In the UK, Budweiser Brewing Group has created a field sales team to ramp up support for the convenience channel, reported Kam City. The team will visit stores around the United Kingdom to offer personalized advice.
Budweiser launched a trial with a small field team in 2021. The team was led by McCurrach, a specialist field marketing agency, and visited various c-stores across the United Kingdom. The team has now been expanded, with sales experts who all specialize in their own region in the United Kingdom.
The field sales team offers insights on local product performance and inventory management strategies.
According to the company, it has gone back to basics and adopted a more personalized approach to work with its retail customers rather than relying solely on modern methods, reported Kam City.
The company has invested in buying insights data to learn what works best in the retail segment, per region, stated Kam City. After seeing success with its regional approach, Budweiser revealed that it will broaden its research to a consumer classification brew, segmenting the United Kingdom by postcode.
“We quickly realized how effective a more personalized approach was in the convenience sector,” said Sunny Mirpuri, sales director for convenience and wholesale at Budweiser Brewing Group. “This has allowed us to work with customers and be much more targeted to their consumers. We’re looking to grow the team even further and are excited to continue building on our offerings that meet the needs of our customers. The success of our field team approach has gone from strength to strength since launching in 2021, with the team growing every year since.”
Budweiser Brewing Group also revealed that it is set to launch a loyalty program for convenience stores next year. The program is tiered with rankings from bronze to gold based on the number of SKUs stocked, according to Kam City. With the gold tier program, c-stores will gain access to an array of data that gives continuous updates on what products to sell based on their area.
The program is meant to incentivize retailers to stock and maintain a selection of Budweiser Brewing Group’s brands by offering cashback rewards.