Covid-19 pandemic prevention measures that include wearing a mask and observing social distancing have caused tipplers to avoid bars, clubs and restaurants. To quench their thirst, they simply order their favourite drinks online, have them delivered, and then quaff in the comfort of their homes.
Given the changing behaviour of consumers, alcohol traders want to know how they can stay agile. Information management consultancy Amplifi tries to answer the question in its recent report on the subject.
The US-based consultancy says a company can stay agile “by leveraging product information management or master data management to deliver engaging product content across channels”.
It is also necessary to “understand customers, improve the supply chain, boost revenue, reduce costs, and improve business decisions”.
In this regard, the pandemic has pushed alcoholmakers globally to accelerate digital transformation to ensure nimbleness and responsiveness.
SA’s largest alcohol producer, Distell, promotes innovative thinking while managing risk within the agreed growth appetite.
Hand sanitisers
Distell is Africa’s leading producer and marketer of wines (4th Street), spirits (Gordon’s gin, Amarula), ciders (Savanna) and other ready-to-drink beverages.
When SA went into a complete lockdown on March 26 2020 that included a ban on alcohol sales, Distell was agile, accelerating innovation by diversifying its business into producing hand sanitisers.
In May 2020, Savanna, Distell’s premium cider brand, created an online platform, the Virtual Comedy Bar, where people could still enjoy entertainment. This enabled some continuation of livelihoods for comedians during hard lockdowns.
By end-2021, Savanna doubled its earnings despite bans on the liquor trade, primarily thanks to its new nonalcoholic offering released in 2019, months before the pandemic hit SA.
The government was of the view that banning alcohol sales would reduce the trauma burden at hospitals and free them up to attend to those with Covid-19.
In some ways, the pandemic acted as a catalyst for internal capability shifts that were already at Distell, such as digital transformation.
Operating model
“We have been on this journey for a few years with various major programmes under way but historically we were very office-based and our programme very waterfall orientated,” said Kershen Pillay, director of global business solutions at Distell.
In 2019, Distell started its digital transformation journey after the implementation of its new operating model.
The alcoholmaker had the following focus areas:
- Digital at the Core aims to drive better cost economics and execution.
- Digital Experiences intends to drive growth through better engagement and service.
- Digital at the Horizon seeds various experiments to rethink the company’s ecosystem of value delivery.
Digital transformation anchors Distell’s purpose of creating memorable moments and crafting a better future. To ensure a better future is achieved and that it remains agile, Distell spent R100m in 2021 to advance its digital transformation journey.
Pillay said the alcoholmaker is likely to “almost double” its investment in digital transformation in 2022 to “focus more on customer experience and consumer engagement”. This investment will enable Distell to place the customer at the heart of its solutions.
What is more exciting is that Distell’s digital transformation journey uses data-driven insights to improve internal business processes and customer and consumer experiences.
Quicker views
Is digitisation assisting Distell to remain relevant and respond to customer needs?
Pillay said digitisation provides quicker views of trends, the use of new technology such as neuroscience, the ability to integrate into trade partners, and the ingestion of multiple data sources that ultimately derive insights and actions.
“We have also reworked the way we organise ourselves to be more agile and responsive to changes — the next step is to take our extended network on the same journey.”
Furthermore, digitisation has helped Distell respond to dwindling face-to-face interactions with customers and consumers.
“We have had to rethink our consumer and customer journeys and what capabilities we build internally to respond to the different omnichannel options for interaction.”
Distell created an automated B2B online platform, Sip Selection, with 4,981 registered users and 800 customers now purchasing on the platform.
Distell’s loyalty programmes Bansela and Amplify now have 18,866 and 2,300 members respectively.
Furthermore, Distell’s daily functions are now digital and cloud-based.
Through digitalisation, Distell has an automated sourcing platform and digital platforms for managing and tracking stock, supported by a mobile platform for use by its sales force and customers’ sales representatives.
• Lourie is a former correspondent for Thomson Reuters, Business Report, Fin24 and Finweek magazine. He is also the founder and editor of techfinancials.co.za
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