While bev-alc has been plagued with demands for “new, new, new” at an accelerated pace in recent years, distributors are concerned that “recent innovation is not disciplined,” according to the latest Tamarron Consulting survey.
The survey focused on large beer suppliers, asking distributors to rate supplier business practices. Respondents were asked to rate 47 different questions from 1-5 (never to always), with four being the target score for suppliers.
This year, Tamarron did not release specifics about the respondents, such as how many participated in the survey, how many represented each supplier, the average amount of brands sold among respondents and more. The 2022 survey analyzed results from 158 distributors, down from 228 in 2021.
The average rating for the eight suppliers combined was 3.84. Boston Beer once again ranked as the No. 1 supplier, with a score of 4.12. Constellation Brands (4.08), Molson Coors (4.06) and Anheuser-Busch InBev (3.89) also scored above average.
New Belgium (3.75), Mark Anthony Brands (3.72), Heineken USA (3.64) and Diageo Beer (3.59) were below average. Sierra Nevada, who was included in the 2022 survey, was not represented in this year’s survey. A craft-focused survey is expected later this year.
Distributors were also asked to give suppliers letter grades for “relationship” – more catered to local and regional teams – and “partnership” – how breweries from the top-down collaborated with distributors.
Boston Beer ranked No. 1 for relationship (96%), followed by Constellation (95%), Mark Anthony Brands (94%), New Belgium (92%), Molson Coors (87%), A-B (85%), Heineken (80%) and Diageo (80%).
New Belgium and Mark Anthony Brands tied for No. 1 in terms of partnership – both receiving a 92% grade – followed by Constellation (91%), Boston Beer (83%), Molson Coors (76%), Diageo (74%), A-B (65%) and Heineken (58%).
A-B’s scores declined in both relationship and partnership versus 2022. Tammaron noted that the majority of distributors submitted responses before the week of April 17, about two weeks into “the Bud Light controversy.” A-B also historically under indexes in terms of distributor representation in the survey.
In 2022, Tamarron began asking respondents about “what it takes for a supplier to break through the clutter and become a preferred partner.”
This year, the No. 1 response to the open-ended question was strengthening a brands in-market presence (15.7%). In the same vein, the No. 3 response was increased planning with distributors (11.1%) and No. 4 was better supplier-distributors partnerships (10.2%).
“Localized planning with reasonable goals and ‘how to’ objectives is also a consistent ask,” Tammaron wrote. “Distributors are looking for suppliers to offer solutions during course correcting as opposed to simply pulling the price lever.
“Distributors want suppliers to be trusted advisors with open dialog about what works best for brands in the market – ask questions and listen as opposed to taking a top down approach,” the firm continued. “Suppliers need to understand local complexities and dynamics.”
The No. 2 response was “disciplined innovation and brand building” (12%). Similarly, the No. 5 response was SKU rationalization (9.3%).
“There is a growing concern that recent innovation is not disciplined with brands being launched at less than optimum times without media or chain support,” Tammaron wrote. “A lot of brands are seen as ‘copycat’ without a clear path to success.”
Additional areas in need of improvement, according to distributor respondents, include:
- E-commerce with chain retailers;
- “Support of distributor B2B e-commerce needs;”
- Category management, on- and off-premise;
- Localized data mining and insights “to help distributors sell more beer;”
- “Consistent communication” on selling tools and distributor training;
- And the brand and/or package “discontinuation process.”
Supplier strengths include:
- “Clarity of annual goals;”
- Annual planning and collaboration;
- Distributor performance scoring;
- “Large format chain programming;”
- And “relevance, timeliness and cadence of communication.”