This article continues from Part 3 of Real Revenue Recovery Right Now, where we describe four useful customer strategies for success.
Getting the basics RIGHT
Fulfilment REORGANISATION
Asset REDEPLOYMENT
Value REPLACEMENT
Each post in this 4 part series takes you through each strategy and gives an example of a company that has done this well. In this final part a fourth strategic option is outlined.
Value replacement
Value replacement is about finding new kinds of value to deliver to customers. In another article we wrote about how Coles partnered with IAG to offer customers insurance products. Sadly the offer seems to have been delivered with pretty poor CX. It’s not all bad at Coles - the supermarket chain is doing some great things as part of their COVID response - they have thrown a lifeline to craft brewers crippled by the outbreak. Coles started by distributing a mixed case of Communitinnies craft beers through 220 Coles Liquor stores in the Victoria. A dozen independent breweries from Melbourne led by Hop Nation were involved. The project has since expanded to 900+ stores nationally. Other independent brewers like Grifter, Akasha, Wayward and Stone & Wood in Sydney, Brisbane’s Hemingways, Big Hop and Newstead brewery, Adelaide’s Big Shed and Moo Brew and Melbourne’s Bodriggy, Brick Lane and Stomping Ground have all gotten in on the act.
Coles is helping the craft beer industry get through COVID
Between 40%-60% of most craft brewery production goes to bars and restaurants. Temporary closures of restaurants, bars, pubs and other venues has decimated demand in the sector.
This opportunity with Coles has allowed us to sell beer that otherwise didn’t have a home. It’s created an avenue for independent craft breweries to move beer that wouldn’t have reached the punters. - CEO of Hop Nation
The breweries are appealing to their customers to be part of the solution by taking the Communitinnies pack home and having a socially isolated ‘crafternoon’, perhaps with a neighbour on the other side of the fence. The marketing is clever customer strategy because it keeps the industry connected with loyal customers and provides them with new value. They can now be part of the solution to keep their favourite beer suppliers solvent during the pandemic.
Offering a new kind of customer value can be a risky move in normal times. But COVID has opened up new possibilities. FibreKing (from Part 1) has received orders from different brewers for automation equipment despite the downturn. After it’s all over we are sure the craft brewers will be in a better situation having gotten a foothold in a channel previously reserved for scale producers. In the meantime customers are loving it because it feels great to be part of a cause.
So we suggest you get involved and finish up today with a craft beer because supporting the under dog is the down right Aussie thing to do.
Robert Dew is a Founding Partner at CapFeather Global with more than 2o years of corporate consulting and university lecturing in Innovation, Customer Strategy and Customer Experience. His PhD related to improving creativity in strong corporate governance environments. He has also done 60+ start-ups.