What do you look for when buying brewing supplies online.

[stibinne]

I am marketing a website for a friend of mine that sells (and ships) homebrew supplies. He has an incredible storefront that is set up perfectly for shipping large order quantities which we intend to get through online marketing. I am a successful marketer in other industries, but am having trouble getting conversions in homebrewing. We are, however, getting a lot of attention, page views, shares, likes, and other non-revenue generating activities (sigh).

I am posting this to get feedback from people on a couple of different topics, as the quality of the products are high and the customer service from the owner is even better. If you have any feedback to any of the following questions, I'd love to hear it. Thank you in advance.

1. What are some key things you look for when ordering brewing supplies online?

2. Is anything in particular that would compel you to buy from one online brewing supply retailer over another?

3. When buying your first kit, are there specific things you want to know? (ex: That it has everything you need to begin, or that it includes a recipe and supplies, or that it fits under the counter, etc.)

4. Would you buy a starter or recipe clone kit for someone as a gift?

5. If there is anything else you believe to be relevant, I'd love to hear that too.

 

[foam_top]

1. Good shipping options (like free over x amount of dollars)
2. The usual, product selection, competitive pricing, customer service, fair return/trade policies etc.
3. Most other sites I've seen tell you what else is needed/not included in a kit...
4. If I knew someone with the interest and number 2 was in order then yes.
5. I like how Adventures In Homebrewing has a point-reward system.

 

[DromJohn]

1) I try to order from only one place at a time. Therefore, I am looking OHBS with fuller inventories.
2) Organic malt and especially Briess Maltoferm® 10000 Malt Extract LME.
3) see foam_top above
4) Unlikely, but it could happen.
5) Make the online inventory accurate real time. "In stock" needs to be "in stock."

 

[Black Island Brewer]

1. What are some key things you look for when ordering brewing supplies online?

Upfront transparency on the shipping rate policy. Don't make me hunt around to find out how much it's going to cost. Whether you do flat rate, graduated rates based on price or actual shipping costs, tell me up front. Don't make me put the whole order together before giving me ANY clue about your shipping. And charge me for shipping - not "handling" - that cost of doing business should be figured into your price.

Carry a wide variety of grains & hops, and label them clearly: what maltster, what hop growing region, at the very least. The more info the better.

Loss leaders just piss me off. If you get me to your site with a barnburner deal, only to find everything else is 25% more than elsewhere, I probably won't visit you again. I like to plan out my next 2 or 3 months of brewing, and order the supplies I need that I don't already have on hand (hops I use in quantity, base malts), and also will stock up on other stuff especially if it gets me a break on shipping, so I tend to place larger orders a few times a year.

2. Is anything in particular that would compel you to buy from one online brewing supply retailer over another?

In this order: wide variety of malts & hops, fairness in shipping, overall cost.

3. When buying your first kit, are there specific things you want to know? (ex: That it has everything you need to begin, or that it includes a recipe and supplies, or that it fits under the counter, etc.)

Can't help you, I've never used a kit.

4. Would you buy a starter or recipe clone kit for someone as a gift?

Nope.

5. If there is anything else you believe to be relevant, I'd love to hear that too.

Here's hoping you get big enough to be bought by A-B/InBev

 

[kh54s10]

Good selection, very good pricing, great customer service, and a good reputation. The last takes time..... Since I don't know anyone else that brews I wouldn't be interested in any kits.

It is a long process to gain trust. The company that you are representing is in control of their destiny. Good selection, good prices and GREAT customer service, then they will establish a good reputation and they will succeed.

Fail any of these and they will have a struggle.

 

[Teromous]

Brewmaster's Warehouse probably had the single best website for generating and buying a recipe. You could literally create the recipe on the website and get all of the information about what the OG would be, what the IBU's would be, etc. You could order ingredients by the ounce and get just as much of the ingredients that you needed. You could save recipes to the website so when you wanted to re-brew the beer you could easily reorder the same ingredients. You could also share the recipe but I don't know how many people actually bought other peoples recipes. They were bought out by Northern Brewer who was then bought out by some company in the giant AB-InBev conglomerate that owns Budweiser....and I don't think anyone else has copied BMW after they shut down....so I guess that's some low hanging fruit for a first time poster and long time marketeer. Consequentially they had a standing 10% discount for forum members here so don't forget that.

1. What are some key things you look for when ordering brewing supplies online? Price and shipping of the ingredients. Edit: I also keep track of liquid yeast freshness by vendor. Send me some of that bottom shelf stuff and I'll be sure to add you to the bottom of the list.

2. Is anything in particular that would compel you to buy from one online brewing supply retailer over another? Ethics and "persona" of the company. If the retailer supports websites like HomebrewTalk or podcasts like The Brewing Network. If the company employs people who are active members in the homebrewing community it is a bonus. Edit: If the owners are active then it is a HUGE bonus.

3. When buying your first kit, are there specific things you want to know? (ex: That it has everything you need to begin, or that it includes a recipe and supplies, or that it fits under the counter, etc.) My first kit didn't come with a pot and at the time I lived in an area where you couldn't just go buy a 5 gallon pot. If the kit came with a kettle it would be awesome. Maybe give a discount coupon in your kit so they can buy a kettle of their choosing?

4. Would you buy a starter or recipe clone kit for someone as a gift? It depends on the recipe. If it is well known, well vetted, etc. There are plenty of good recipes out there that have won awards to choose from.

5. If there is anything else you believe to be relevant, I'd love to hear that too. Get involved with the community. Make some forum posts and some youtube videos. I know about homebrew stores in other states that I would never order from (distance) because their owner makes youtube videos. I still watch the videos though and that gains momentum.

 

[dallasdb]

THIS IS THE START OF THE INFILTRATION OF AB/INBEV!!!!

He's researching for "a friend" that is setup for shipping "large quantities"

Here is a pic of his "friend"

 

[jcav]

One thing is to be up front on the alpha acids on the hops you are selling online. Nothing worse than expecting a certain hop with lets say 8.0% AA advertised on the site and when it arrives at your door it is 5.5%. So if you get hops in with different alpha acids than the last shipment you received, update your site. That and a reasonable flat rate shipping is another good thing I look for.

John

 

[sikkingj]

THIS IS THE START OF THE INFILTRATION OF AB/INBEV!!!!

He's researching for "a friend" that is setup for shipping "large quantities"

Here is a pic of his "friend"

All the better a large, well capitalized purveyor of home brew supplies would be welcome. Think of it, many of us use Costco, imagine if they sold grain by the bag...

To address the posters initial questions, I like to buy grain in any quantity (oz to lbs), crush or non-crush grain, good pictures and a quick loading web site, fresh yeast and hops, and discounts on expired yeast and hops.

I'd happily gift a kit to a fellow brewer. I'm also interested clones of world class beers and popular internet recipes (just about anything from BeerMuncher, Westy12, etc.).

One of the largest discriminators for online shops is shipping, I prefer it free or flat rate at worst. If you are InBev, can you provide bulk orders to "group buys", clubs or internet buying groups using your existing beer distribution network (beer truck, distributor, etc.).

Finally, the reason we all use online retailers is total cost. I'd love to be able to buy 2-row at InBev's price, I'm sue they would blow everyone else out of the water.

I'm interested to what everyone's else thoughts are and the best of luck.

 

[sikkingj]

All the better a large, well capitalized purveyor of home brew supplies would be welcome. Think of it, many of us use Costco, imagine if they sold grain by the bag...

To address the posters initial questions, I like to buy grain in any quantity (oz to lbs), crush or non-crush grain, good pictures and a quick loading web site, fresh yeast and hops, and discounts on expired yeast and hops.

I'd happily gift a kit to a fellow brewer. I'm also interested clones of world class beers and popular internet recipes (just about anything from BeerMuncher, Westy12, etc.).

One of the largest discriminators for online shops is shipping, I prefer it free or flat rate at worst. If you are InBev, can you provide bulk orders to "group buys", clubs or internet buying groups using your existing beer distribution network (beer truck, distributor, etc.).

Finally, the reason we all use online retailers is total cost. I'd love to be able to buy 2-row at InBev's price, I'm sue they would blow everyone else out of the water.

I'm interested to what everyone's else thoughts are and the best of luck.

 

[stibinne]

This feedback is perfect, thank you all so much!

It would be awesome if I could agree with the undercover AB/INBEV posts, however, at this point it's just searching for a solid online revenue stream to deliver quality products to strangers that have similar interests.

Thank you all again!!

 

[DromJohn]

Brewmaster's Warehouse probably had the single best website for generating and buying a recipe. You could literally create the recipe on the website and get all of the information about what the OG would be, what the IBU's would be, etc. You could order ingredients by the ounce and get just as much of the ingredients that you needed. You could save recipes to the website so when you wanted to re-brew the beer you could easily reorder the same ingredients. You could also share the recipe but I don't know how many people actually bought other peoples recipes. They were bought out by Northern Brewer who was then bought out by some company in the giant AB-InBev conglomerate that owns Budweiser....and I don't think anyone else has copied BMW after they shut down....so I guess that's some low hanging fruit for a first time poster and long time marketeer.

While I never bought a shared recipe at BW, I did open some recipes and then modified those recipes within Brew Builder.

FWIW, Brewers Friend has a "buy this recipe" tab that then goes to Home Brew Supply.
Good: Home Brew Supply informs you if items are in stock, and also offers alternatives.
Bad: Home Brew Supply does not sell to the ounce.

 

[dallasdb]

Don't clutter your site.

Some sites are so damn busy it's hard to use.

MAKE THE SEARCH FUNCTION WORK REALLY WELL

I hate when the search function within a site returns 0 results or results that are not even close to what you're looking for.

Homebrewsupply.com has a great search function.

Have prices clearly shown and if you aren't free or flat rate shipping, have a shipping calc right in the cart not on the last step of checkout.

 

[PADave]

Upfront transparency on the shipping rate policy. Don't make me hunt around to find out how much it's going to cost. Whether you do flat rate, graduated rates based on price or actual shipping costs, tell me up front. Don't make me put the whole order together before giving me ANY clue about your shipping. And charge me for shipping - not "handling" - that cost of doing business should be figured into your price.

Carry a wide variety of grains & hops, and label them clearly: what maltster, what hop growing region, at the very least. The more info the better.

Loss leaders just piss me off. If you get me to your site with a barnburner deal, only to find everything else is 25% more than elsewhere, I probably won't visit you again. I like to plan out my next 2 or 3 months of brewing, and order the supplies I need that I don't already have on hand (hops I use in quantity, base malts), and also will stock up on other stuff especially if it gets me a break on shipping, so I tend to place larger orders a few times a year.


In this order: wide variety of malts & hops, fairness in shipping, overall cost.

I agree with all this. Biggest being shipping. If I can't quickly find how much it's going to cost to get the things I buy to me, I usually don't spend much time on that site. Nothing pisses me off more than searching out product, loading the cart, then getting to checkout and finding that after all the "deals" it will cost $39 to ship.

 

[MidAtlanticBrew]

The biggest things for me are having a very large selection of hops and grains with detailed desciptions, cost effective and quick delivery to my location, and everyday low prices. I hate the places that run sales all the time. A deal of the day or an occasional clearance sale is fine but the sales are just stupid. It p*sses off the loyals who stocked up the week before the sale and brings the non loyals in just for the deal with little chance of conversion.

 

[bobeer]

Good bulk pricing and free shipping on orders of $50 or more would be my basic requirement. Morebeer.com does free shipping for $60 or more which is why I buy all my hops and grain there even though they're out of stuff a lot of the time. Having their east cost warehouse 2 states away is great too because I can get my stuff in 2-3 days with standard shipping.

With AIH they have a rewards program which I dig a lot. You get a point (1 dollar) for every dollar you spend and you can pay with them in 25 point increments; I think. I usually buy all my gear from them because I think the prices are decent and I get money back to spend on other stuff.

So if you could combine good bulk prices, free shipping, fast shipping, a rewards program, and good customer service, I'd probably buy from you.

 

[stibinne]

Thank you all, this is incredible information. We have some work to do, but are looking at implementing everything we can from here.

 

[Redlantern]

For me, it is really the user interface. I find that a lot of sites have a lot of the same stuff, just that some sites it is so much easier to navigate.

Small buttons or size .075 font where you have to click stinks.

I like good contrast on the names of the products so I can spot it easier and do my shopping

When ordering, I also notice that sometimes the font color is subdued - making it hard to read and easy to make a mistake. The conspiracy theorist in me has decided this is done on purpose to mask the quantity you have chosen leading to have to order again or find out you have ordered more than what you wanted.

The button for Ingredients needs to be prominent as when I am shopping for beer stuff, I am no longer interested in Brew-Porn (have most of what I am gonna get for now), but getting the stuff I need for a batch.

In general, most sites are just fine. No real issues with most of them, these are just my preferences.

 

[dallasdb]

Consistently fair prices increases return customers versus having to jump on sales and having one time customers.