How the drinks sector is evolving to cater to growing demand in online sales

Modern retail and commerce continues to evolve away from the high street and towards the digital world. Extra convenience is the key driver from the shopper’s perspective, and as a retailer, it’s simply been a case of looking to accommodate for this paradigm shift.

For businesses in some industries, this has been a huge success. Online retail enables more customers from a wider expanse of geographies to be serviced, helping to bring in higher revenue and to ultimately allow a business to grow.

But success in online retail is reliant on a good service and effectively meeting the expectations of the customer. The product you are shipping needs to be in pristine condition upon arrival, allowing the customer to enjoy it to its fullest extent without having to go back to the company because something’s not right.

This is easier for certain products that others. Items like books for example don’t require extraordinary packaging  to ensure they arrive to their desired recipient in the optimal condition.

But in an industry like the drinks sector for example, the challenges of selling online have meant that moving to an ecommerce model has been slower to adopt by drinks retailers.

This is partly due to the nature of the typical drinks purchase. People might not immediately think of online as being the go-to when buying their favourite bottle. But this is definitely shifting as more and more drinks sellers strengthen their online offering, bolstered by advances in clever packaging solutions.

Today, businesses such as wineries, liquor companies and beer specialists are seeing substantial online growth after a slow start. And in fact, the UK is one of the leading countries when it comes to drinks retail online.

Typically, online alcohol sales are from retailers specialising in such fields, but there’s also been a rise in on-demand alcohol sales. Heard of Drizly and Minibar? Possibly not, as they’re yet to penetrate the UK market. But these are big alcohol delivery services in the US and Canada, and similar models are starting to appear in European markets too.

If you’re a business considering branching into online drinks sales, or already doing so, a major challenge is the packaging element.

Any damage to a bottle in transit is a major problem in this space. Instances of this lead to big damage to the customer experience, and potential brand reputation problems if it’s an ongoing problem. In the age of customer reviews and social media, no retailer can afford this.

Macfarlane Online is helping businesses in the drinks sector thrive with our Airsac packaging technology, specifically designed for the sale and distribution of glass bottles.