It seems there are a lot of new beers out there and I am having a hard time keeping up with them. Is there a strategy or formula you can recommend for coming up with a good product assortment.
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"Also, how much room should I devote to 12-ounce single-serve beers? I currently have two shelves, but the items seem to sell pretty quickly?"
If there's one thing that growing population of craft beer drinkers like more than flavor it is diversity. While the traditional beer drinker often comes in looking for exactly the same brand and often the same SKU every day, craft beer drinkers will vary what they drink from day-to-day and week-to-week. At the same time, they aren't fickle and they aren't out there just to pickup the newest beer on the market. They are looking for established brands that they have tried and enjoy. So the same customer may come in to buy a pale ale one day, a stout the next and an amber lager the day after that.
To accommodate consumer demand for craft beers, you'll want to stock a variety of beer styles from several brewers. Most brewers offer a flagship beer that is their best seller along with several other year-around products and a line of seasonal beers that change throughout the year. For a popular regional or national craft brewer, I would recommend carrying three products: their flagship, another year-around beer and one seasonal beer. For less well-known brewers, you might carry just their flagship or the flagship and one additional product.
When it comes to the singles space, I would think of this like tap handles in a bar. This space gives consumers a chance to try a product they might not know or might not want to buy in six-pack quantity. It is a great place to introduce seasonal beers and other new additions to the six-pack cooler. By the same token, you don't necessarily have to carry all of the flagship brands there because they are better known and popular enough that consumers
will be less resistant to purchasing a six-pack. I'd figure that maybe 50 to 60 percent of your total craft brands might deserve a spot on the singles shelves.
