Licensees are growing sales of cask beer as a result of the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) Direct Delivery Scheme (DDS), according to a new survey.

The SIBA study showed that 71 per cent of licensees believed that DDS had helped to grow sales of cask ale.

The ales that are being ordered through the scheme tend to be brewed close to the pub rather than being from further afield – 65 per cent of the beers being ordered were local.

Added to this, the statistics showed that licensees were beginning to see DDS as invaluable to their beer offer – 80 per cent of licensees said they would lose sales if the DDS scheme was withdrawn, while 44 per cent said it would affect their sales dramatically.

While it is only a small snapshot of the scheme (24 licensees were interviewed) it nevertheless gives an interesting insight into the impact DDS has had, as well as providing further proof of the popularity of local beers.

Taken from: www.thepublican.com
By Adam Withrington

The Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) has unveiled a unique and individual supply and merchandising service in support of its new distribution agreement with Thresher brokered through SIBA’s Direct Delivery Scheme (DDS).

The local ales sector of the beer market has long claimed to be unique whether through its focus on quality beers through hand crafted brewing, one-off seasonal and innovative ales or dedicated responses to individual customer service requests that larger breweries cannot match. Now this tailored approach to trade management is about to go one step further. From 18th April Thresher will roll out across 1,800 stores up to 4 beers per store delivered directly by breweries within 30 to 40 miles of each outlet from among DDS’s 260 brewers. So in all probability the local beer range in each Thresher will be unique within its estate. In support SIBA DDS will provide a leaflet unique to each store to promote the launch and offer tasting notes on each store’s individual beer range. The leaflet talks up the benefits of environmental and local economic sustainability of direct delivery by local brewers and will be refreshed if a store’s range changes.

Nick Stafford, Managing Director, SIBA DDS commented ‘We believe this is a first within a major multiple retailer. Not only has Thresher now got a point of difference from most other high street retailers but it is entirely possible you won’t find the same beer offering in any 2 Threshers. Consumers are increasingly on the look-out for individual food and drink products best provided by local producers unique to their area and now we’re backing this with totally individual point of sale and merchandising. This service is a great way of demonstrating our flexibility and commitment to helping customers make the most of the booming consumer demand for local beer.’

Roger Whiteside, Chief Executive, Thresher Group, expressed a wish for the number of local beers within each store to grow beyond the initial four. ‘There is huge demand for local products’, he added, ‘DDS unlocks the opportunity to satisfy that consumer demand and gives Thresher a further point of differentiation within the off-trade. Offering quality ales from local brewers with a passion and enthusiasm for beer is a far more interesting proposition than the supermarkets’ use of price-led lager deals.’

Mike Benner, Chief Executive, CAMRA pointed to the explosion in the number of bottled beers available which he estimated at 1,000. He confirmed that spotting the commercial opportunity from localism is a clever move on Thresher’s and SIBA’s part and declared the launch a great step forward for British beer.

Roger Whiteside, Chief Exec, Thresher Group; Nick Stafford, MD DDS and Mike Benner, Chief Exec, CAMRA

From the beginning of April local ales will be directly delivered to 23 local pubs within the 300 strong Orchid Group’s estate. SIBA DDS’s customer base has to date been in the tenanted and leased sector as well as the off-trade.

Nick Stafford, Managing Director DDS, commented ‘this is a very significant win for local ales in the managed pub sector. We have consistently proved that local ales are one of the biggest success stories in the beer market and as the smoking ban approaches we believe our members’ beers represent a major opportunity for pub groups to generate footfall and premium business. We are delighted with Orchid’s confidence in the commercial benefit of local beers and the effectiveness of our direct delivery scheme.’

Simon Dodd, Commercial Director of the Orchid Group, commented ‘we were impressed with the potential of local ales to boost not only beer but total pub sales. It really is a logical step to put local based beer into local pubs and DDS makes it practical to do so.’

In a survey of 200 pubs the majority of licensees said that total pub business had increased since taking on direct deliveries from local brewers through SIBA DDS. The most important reasons for the sales growth were acknowledged as an increase in the choice of ales and the interest in local beer. No wonder the direct delivery programme is well liked by licensees and three-quarters of them thought it was either excellent or good. So it is logical that the most commonly suggested improvement was ‘none’ as the scheme is seen to work well already.

SIBA is also claiming that stocking a local beer generates premium sales as nearly a third of pubs priced the ale sourced through DDS at an average 6-7% premium to their usual ale. For nearly half of pubs local ales were accommodated within their policy of selling all cask beers at parity.

Nick Stafford, Managing Director DDS, said ‘This is an overdue rejection of the attacks on local brewers made earlier in the year. Far from cannibalising existing beer sales pubs are telling us that an increased choice of quality, local ales is helping to grow their total business. We will be driving this message home to other retailers who share a common interest in wanting to help their licensees increase sales.’