Use Data to Map Your Craft Spirits Distribution

Go where the demand is! That’s easier said than done for many craft spirits brands. 

Small distilleries have to be picky about where they distribute their spirits. But any good business still wants to put products in the hands of customers who will buy them. The challenge is figuring out where those customers are. Small-Batch Maps has a solution for that!

When crafting small batches of whiskey, gin, vodka or other craft spirits, it’s important to be strategic about taking the next step with distribution. When considering where to take its spirits, a distillery always benefits from more data.

Rather than flooding markets with spirits just to test the waters, distilleries can be more strategic. With Small-Batch Maps, these craft spirits businesses draw intel about who’s looking for their product and where. 

What Data Can You Find?

By building and installing Small-Batch Maps on your distillery’s website, not only will you lead customers to your bottles, you’ll uncover customers looking for your products nationwide. That’s because the application reports that data back to you. Once visitors start using the map, you’ll routinely get reports that tell you:

• Top Product Searched: The Small-Batch Maps technology records which products users search for when they arrive at your website. It stores that data to help you understand the demand for each of your spirits on a monthly basis. You’ll get a list of the top-searched products along with the amount of times each was searched.
• Top Locations Searched: Whenever anyone searches for one of your products, they do so within a particular geographic area. They can either allow the map to use their location or they can select a location to search. Either way, Maps will remember where and add it to the monthly data sent to you. Again, you’ll get a list of the top locations where a user searched for your products and how many times those locations were searched.
• Top Stores Clicked: Once a person has chosen the product they want to search and where they want to search for it, the map will show them retailer locations where they can find a bottle. Based on that information, the customer will then choose a location to click. Every click is recorded by Small-Batch Maps and sent as part of your monthly report. You’ll see the top stores along with the amount of clicks each store received.

How Can You Use the Stats from Small-Batch Maps?

Equipped with the monthly statistics you get from Small-Batch Maps, you have all the information you need to know where your spirits should be sold. This data gives you insights into customers in your existing territory but you’ll also see customers popping up outside that territory. If you see enough demand growing in a particular place, you can start planning distribution.

Additionally, once you have evidence of growing demand, you can hand that over to your sales team. Statistics can be convincing when trying to make inroads with new distributors or new accounts. If you can say how many people within a metro area are looking for your products and which products they’ll likely want, you might be able to convince new retailers to stock up. On top of that, the knowledge that your product map will direct those customers to a retailer is persuasive in a sale.

What Can You Do to Get More Comprehensive Data?

Simply installing a map on your website won’t automatically net you all the data you need to make distribution decisions and expansive sales. In order to get the information you want, you need to drive potential customers to that map yourself. You can do this by sharing the map:

• Include it in social media posts.
• Incorporate it into your newsletter. 
• Boost social media posts about your products with a link to the map. 
• Drop the map into your website’s top navigation.
• Link to the map in every blog post and on every website page.
• Make sure the URL is easy to remember and have your sales team memorize it.
• Add the link to printed materials, like tasting room menus and sell sheets.
• Print the URL onto your spirits labels along with any other contact info.

Any other way you can think of to get that map in front of a larger audience, do it. The more traffic you have, the more insights you’ll get. And the more data you have access to will drive more sales.