EABL starts delivery of drinks to customers’ doorsteps

Beer maker East African Breweries Limited has launched an online portal for selling and home-delivering its premium brands, marking a new strategy in the company’s efforts to rev up its sales.

The drinks delivery portal which went live on November 28 enables online orders for alcoholic drinks or through personal computers and mobile phones any time of the day.

EABL says the portal is targeted at online-shopping consumers of luxury brands.

“Consumers of premium brands are looking online for information about the brands that they are increasingly interacting with. We only took it a step further and converged the information and product access in one platform through a delivery service,” said the EABL Reserve Brands Commercial Manager Charles Weru in an interview on Wednesday.

Among the premium drinks on display at the portal include Johnie Walker, Lagavulin, Ciroc, Tanqueray, Cragganmore, Don Julio Resposado and Zacapa.

Shoppers on the portal get the advantage of buying at the recommended retail price, unlike buying from stores, restaurants or clubs which assign steep profit mark-ups.

Buyers have the option of paying through mobile money or online debit or credit card deductions.

Delivery, which is estimated to take between two hours within Nairobi and 48 hours to other areas across the country, is done free of charge for orders above Sh3,000.

Orders below that threshold pay a delivery fee depending on their location.

“The new service offers convenience and utility allowing consumers to have premium and luxury spirits brands whenever and wherever they would like to have them,” said Mr Weru.

The company has partnered with On Demand, a third-party service vendor, to handle deliveries within the city.

The beer maker will use its distribution network for delivery to areas outside Nairobi. Since the portal went live just over a week ago, the company says it has been making an average of seven deliveries within the city per day.

READ: Top spirits firm Bacardi sets up shop in Nairobi

The orders are expected to grow as the festive mood kicks in and the popularity of the portal grows.

“We did not anticipate the amount of enquiries and orders during the first week as was received. The reception has been overwhelming,” said Mr Weru.

Recent statistics (April-June 2014) by Communication Authority of Kenya indicate that the number of Internet users increased by three per cent to 22.3 million up from 21.6 million during the earlier quarter.

The increased number of users indicates that Internet penetration in Kenya now stands at 55 per cent up from 53.3 per cent of the previous quarter. The statistics show a potential for growth in tandem with internet penetration and the rising shift to online shopping.

EABL’s sales have grown at a slower pace in recent years than previously attributed to a combination of new regulatory restrictions on drink-driving as well as steep tax increases.

The brewer’s sales went up four per cent to Sh61.2 billion in the year to June 2014, with Kenya remaining the group’s mainstay contributing 64 per cent of the total sales while Uganda and Tanzania contributed 18 and 11 per cent respectively.

Its net profit increased 5.1 per cent to Sh6.8 billion in the same period.

The company is Thursday expected to launch Bulleit Bourbon, a luxury whisky retailing at Sh2,990 per bottle.