COVER STORY: Technology pours new innovation into the alcohol industry

Wineries, producers, and liquor store conglomerates are embracing new technology from the internet of things (IoT) to e-commerce platforms to make producing and buying alcohol a more seamless process.

As consumers are becoming more digital in every facet of their lives, it only makes sense that the alcohol industry follows suit.

Adam Watt, head of engineering at alcohol delivery service Jimmy Brings said they are more a technology company than anything else, as technology is at the core of everything they do.

He said, “We have a retail presence that's our promise to our customers, but without the tech behind it, it's physically impossible to deliver around Australia quickly. Technology is the underlining thing that holds Jimmy Brings together.

“When our customer places an order, we touch up to 26 systems in the backend to get you that delivery, that's an amazing thing to focus on, is how many touchpoints we have between stock customers, getting it to a store, pick up with a driver.

“It's an amazing thing to see it all work underpinning underneath it, without the technology we just wouldn't be able to do what we do.”

Claire Smith, director at endeavourX, the digital platform that powers Dan Murphy’s and BWS amongst others, told Digital Nation that customers are increasingly doing their research online before buying in-store.  

“Understanding, connecting with and meeting the needs of our customers is key to Endeavour Group’s strategy. Digital helps us engage with our customers in a more meaningful way, and create leading consumer brands, experiences and product trends. That is why we will continue to invest in our digital, data and insights capabilities,” she said.

The internet of wine

Some wineries are dipping their toes into digital tools to help them grow better grapes and produce the better stock.

Dru Reschke, general manager at Koonara Wines in South Australia explained the suite of IoT-based technology they use at their vineyard.

“We've got one of the world's first handheld monitors that we can analyse carbon in the soil, as well as the ratios of bacteria to micro fungi, which is important for us,” he said.

Reschke said he is collaborating with a satellite company and drone company to share data between themselves to improve soil carbon and other nutrients.

“We use a satellite company as well to analyse our nutrients in the vines and see where we sit. We have a drone company, which also comes through, and we've also got a sensor that sits above the vineyard and picks up whether or not those leaves are transpiring,” he said.

Transpiration in the leaves involves the loss of water vapour in the plants, this cools down the plants, so if that stops, so too does the production of grapes.

Reschke said, “We need them to keep transpiring and pulling carbon dioxide from the air. They have been the main [technologies] in the vineyard. It was exciting for me only two weeks ago that we managed to convince all three of [those companies] to share their data and even though they overlap a little bit, they're going to be all better off for it,” he said.

From implementing the IoT tools, Reschke said they have been able to have a bigger window in picking grapes.

“Usually vineyards will have a few days before acid starts dropping off. We are thinking about nutrition so early on so we tend to have a much, much bigger window. Our vines don't stress as much, and they keep growing sugars into the grapes and more importantly, believe it or not, sugar into the leaf of the plant,” he explained.

When there is more sugar in the leaf, that is when they know it is healthy according to Reschke. Plus, it also acts as a natural bug repellant.

“In a leaf, if you can get the sugars up to about six percent. The caterpillars that eat it will die of alcohol poisoning. The sugars ferment in their gut and they fall off.

"Moths are very smart, they can detect [the sugar] and so they'll move onto the next vineyard and not put their young in harm's way. We have very few moths in the vineyard anymore because of this technology," he said.

“In the end, we have a grape that has the right amount of sugar, is very balanced and has a great amount of complexity,” he added. 

Getting personal

Embracing more digital platforms allows brands to give a more personal experience to their customers. Watt at Jimmy Brings explained that technology opens the doors to what they can offer their customers.

“We've invested heavily in our commerce platform and our dispatch platform to bring it up to speed for the next hopefully five, six years. So we don't have to think about major re-platforming events,” he said.

But now, Watt said it’s about figuring out what they can do at Jimmy Brings with all these “shiny new tools”.

“As a customer, you want personalised experiences, you want things you want to know about. That's what we're focusing on now, every customer shops in a different way. How can we give you the best experience and get you the products that you want straight away?

“All the platforms that we have, have personalisation components built into them. They're very quick, they’re very responsive. There are not these big lag times trying to optimise things, we can do it really fast for the masses," he added. 

Digital over physical

New bottle shops pop up all the time, some with a physical storefront and an online store to complement them. However, others like Sometimes Always, are going down the completely digital route.

Jared Brown, head of digital at online boutique wine store Sometimes Always said before launching they envisaged a physical store but in the end, digital covered all their bases. 

“We envisaged that there would be a physical store as well, and we started planning for that. But we ran into a few hurdles with the planning process and licensing, so it put a stop to that,” he said.

Brown explained the risks that come with a new business opening a storefront, that digital doesn’t have.

“Thinking about certain things like the cost involved in staffing on public holidays and weekends. The unknown around what sort of traffic or business a physical store would do without a customer base to start with.”

Brown said Sometimes Always has grown the customer base more than they would've imagined in the amount of time that they’ve been around.

“We look at it and say maybe bricks and mortar will work down the line, if we feel like we've got a great base to launch that, with a customer base that already exists, a platform to tell people about it, some rapport and some data about what people buy,” he said.

"It almost seems kind of shortsighted to try and launch the online and the bricks and mortar at the same time with the zero customer base and no data.”

New tricks of the trade

With new digital platforms, come new ways to engage with customers. Dan Murphy’s is amplifying its in-app experience to help consumers find new drinks via image search.

The UX-based functionality has been developed by Endeavour Group’s digital arm endeavourX and uses machine learning to identify over 25,000 drinks labels.

“[This] is a convenient way for customers to find more information about a wine, beer or spirit they are enjoying at a dinner party and see if it is available at their local Dan Murphy’s,” Smith at endeavourX said.

Dan Murphy’s also became the first Australian retailer to apply number-plate recognition technology to improve customer experience.

Customers enter their registration number at the point of order, and when they arrive at the drive-through, digital cameras alert the team members, who then place the order in the customer's car boot. The service allows customers to be in and out in under three minutes, according to Smith.

EndeavourX is in the midst of also rolling out electronic shelf labels (ESL) to more BWS and Dan Murphy’s stores.

Smith said, “The ESLs also has NFC (near field communication) technology embedded, so customers can simply tap the shelf label with their smartphones to get product information and customer reviews in real-time.”

While endeavourX has a range of new technologies built into its brands, Smith said ultimately it comes down to the human touch.

“Our team is at the heart of everything we do. We are proud to have an incredible group of innovative, collaborative people who think outside the box, who are passionate about creating experiences and services that will meet the needs of our customers today, tomorrow and beyond,” she ended.