For months Downton Brewery owner Martin Strawbridge had been wrestling with two big questions. How would his loyal customers react to a re-brand of his beer? And was it really worth investing in a better online shop experience?
Since engaging Redwing to work on both his brand and a new online shop, both questions have been answered emphatically over the past few months.
“The new brand has been revolutionary for us,” said Strawbridge. “Shops that weren’t taking our beer are now taking our beer, and telling us that our labels now have great ‘shelf presence’. And that is all you want.
“Personally, I’d avoid (supplying) supermarkets but we are definitely now receiving orders from bigger suppliers nationwide that we were not receiving before, including on the Bermondsey Mile, which is the hotbed for craft ale.
“We now have the look of a brewery which is synonymous with craft beer, rather than the look of a brewery which is only for cask beer in pubs. That extra dimension has been a big change for us.”
New revolutionary online buying experience
Almost as soon as the new brand launched, Britain’s first major lockdown struck, impacting orders from pub clients.
“On March 23rd with pubs closed we were stood here in the brewery and I said ‘so what are we going to do?’ Free delivery within 10 miles seemed an obvious answer, and with the new website and online shop we changed things.”
Communicating frequently with Strawbridge, Redwing prioritised the creation of a new online shop, which revolutionised the B2C experience and enabled a massive change in business model.
“The old website used to deliver 1% of all orders. Since the new website launched, 22% of orders have come online.
“People were uncomfortable using the previous online shop because it was clunky. Now it’s a lot smarter, a lot simpler. People get it and want to use it.
“It was frightening but three months down the line we had 500 plus regular, repeat customers buying our beer online, customers we now have a direct relationship with.
“The repeat business has been phenomenal.”
Also read: why Downton Brewery chose a bespoke online solution over off-the-shelf