What's Next March 2015 - Ready for Spring?

Feb. 27, 2015

We took to the halls of Wirtz Beverage to provide a new perspective on the age-old and un-glamorous issue of inventory management.

Since you and your customers are both ready for the change of seasons, use these tips to prepare for what could be your second-largest purchasing time this year. Wirtz’ experts offer tips below on inventory management and making room for the new SKUs and seasonals coming to market this spring.

Rocky Ruane, Regional Director of Warehouse Operations - Responsible for managing millions of dollars of inventory for Wirtz Beverage in Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota

Having worked retail for a few years I learned from some very astute retailer managers that you need to carefully manage all of your products, not only the fast movers but especially the slow movers. Items that sit and collect dust are just unavailable dollars that could be put back into the business.

Eventually everyone has a bad buy but it does not have to be a total loss. The key is being aware and recognizing your error quickly. If you catch it in time, you will have enough time to re-sell the product at a discount but hopefully you will be able to at least break-even on your investment.

As a business owner, the key to your success is managing your inventory to its fullest potential. All businesses have slow movers, whether you are in the distribution business or the T-shirt business. Being fastidious about what you have in-stock will help you avoid having to drastically discount product and take a financial loss.

Saša Sinanagic, Fine Wine Specialist - Bringing expert wine-buying experience from large-scale hotel properties ¡a Sinanagic, Fine Wine Specialist - Bringing expert wine-buying experience from large-scale hotel properties

I was very fortunate to work in hotels the majority of my career and had the opportunity to build multiple wine lists across the property. With 600 SKUs, the best trick at hotels is constant rotation, trying a product from catering to in-room dining.

The key to cleaning out the old and bringing in the new is to stick with what you are! If you offer Italian cuisine, don’t be lured in by too many domestic wines—that way your product will always work with your cuisine. If you are a smaller establishment with a smaller wine list keep it simple and skip the expensive stuff.

Get ready for this spring by making room for some inexpensive, sparkling and light wines - Pinot Grigio, Rosé, Prosecco and Cava. For the higher quality product use split cases or six packs for any wines that cost $50 to $200. This is an economical solution to ensure you don’t have too much cash flow tied up in your inventory.

Lastly, technology also can be a key piece to managing your inventory, especially a system that is tied into your POS interface. You then have a tracking system which instantly knows your depletion levels.

Nolan Sauls, Business Analyst - Sharing trend watching tips following attendance at the 2014 Beer Marketer’s Insights Seminar

At the seminar, I attended a panel discussion with the COO of Yuengling Dave Casinelli, President of Columbia Distributing Chris Steffanci and President of Independent Beverage Group Joe Thompson. During the discussion, the group agreed that consumer fatigue does not exist from the increase in craft beer SKUs.

The panelists further explained that there’s still room for new brands to succeed. With over-saturation, loyalty can be compromised but they all agreed that the best brands will rise to the top, and small and large brewers alike can still succeed with more SKUs.

Panelists agreed that craft beer within retail will be similar to wine, where there is currently a lot of SKUs and continued consumer interest.

David Kahle, Wirtz Beverage Master Cicerone - Nationwide authority on all aspects of the craft beer industry

First, accounts should evaluate their complete beer list and consider which brands their business has the strongest relationships with, either because their customers connect with the product or because brewery staff spent time at the establishment. Are there brands that have held events at your account, or sent you limited release products? If so, this will give you a good core list of product lines you probably never want to have out of stock.

Next, take a macro look at your full list by style. Ask yourself, "how many IPAs are on tap or on the shelf?" While IPAs are currently the #1 beer style, if you have more than five IPAs on draft, there is an opportunity to make room for other styles. Sometimes you can inadvertently have too many of one style on-hand as you are changing out kegs night-after-night. It is always a good practice to keep a careful watch on your style selection. When looking to add something new, consider testing out the cider trend with your customers, going as far as designating a draft handle to an up-and-coming cider brand could serve you well as you expose your customers to a new category that is growing in popularity.

Lastly, be aware of seasonal changes. Have your staff focus on moving products that are seasonal. You don’t want to end up with winter beers in the spring.

Consumers have shown an appetite for new and seasonal products. Take advantage of spring releases to gain incremental growth for your business.