Craft beer and specialist ales have enjoyed a meteoric resurgence in recent times, with local breweries leading the way.
Huge factories churning out millions of gallons of broadly–unloved brews will no longer cut it, especially among younger generations.
Instead, the industry is fermenting into a heady mix of smaller, more characterful independent and local breweries. While this helps to break the old monopoly, smaller breweries may be finding it hard to gain the same level of strategic intelligence as those with the big budgets – but, not any more.
Local breweries and location intelligence – the perfect blend
Here, we’ll explore three of the ways local breweries can use location intelligence to optimise profitability:
1) Identify natural resources
Natural resources such as hops and clean, fresh water make all the difference to the taste of the end product.
With location intelligence, you can identify areas rich in natural springs or other water sources, then focus your search there.
You can also add farmland into the equation, identifying locations close to the hop and grain producers you think will give your beer a distinctive flavour.
It’s also worth pointing out the symbiotic relationship many farms and local breweries have with one another. Farms can make for both a cost-effective and well-resourced brewing HQ as well as an appealing spot for visitors.
Location intelligence enables you to identify accessible locations close to transport networks. You can also use its Ordnance Survey data to look out for scenic spots that will pull in the crowds.
2) Understand the local market
To run a successful brewery, you need to have a clear idea of where local purveyors (pubs, farm shops, convenience stores etc.), customers, competitors and complementary businesses are situated.
With location intelligence, you can plot and visualise all of these elements on your own secure, corporate version of Google Maps. With this macro-perspective, you can then make more informed decisions about where to position your brewery and other commercial resources.
In terms of local demographics, you have the ability to combine census data with council tax data. This allows you to find out more about the age and socio-economic profile of people within a given area. You can even use social media sentiment analysis to find out how beer is perceived in a particular area, and what types are preferred.
The built-in functions also allow you to create heatmaps of footfall, identify areas not yet served by local breweries, or compare your prospective profitability between two locations.
3) Create an efficient logistics network
One major cost to take into account is logistics. With location intelligence, you can position your premises and plan delivery routes in order to streamline your logistics costs.
You can pinpoint locations that are close to key distributors, or to major transport interchanges that can conveniently take your product further.
Using the drive-time calculator, you are able to accurately predict how long it will take your product to reach a specific destination. You can also devise delivery routes that save both time and fuel.
Periscope® is among the most advanced location intelligence solutions, enabling your local brewery to achieve all of this and more.
Optimise your local brewery’s location intelligence capabilities with Periscope® from Newgrove; sign up for a free, 10-minute demo today.