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Imagine making an order for your favorite brew when friends arrive unexpected and the fridge isn’t stocked. Drizly to the rescue. This on-demand alcohol delivery platform via your smartphone, tablet or computer is generating considerable buzz (and catching the eye of investors). We chatted with company co-founder Nick Rellas about how Drizly is working in Indy and other markets across the United States.
Q: What gave you the idea for to-your-door alcohol delivery?
A: Drizly began in 2012 when my friend, Justin Robinson, and I were curious why we couldn’t get beer delivered when nearly everything else had become so readily available through technology. That casual curiosity quickly evolved into a fascination (or obsession, as some would call it) on why technology hadn’t been able to integrate into regulated industries like alcohol. Before long, we started down a path to figure out a way to legally work within the system to make alcohol delivery a reality. In 2013, Drizly officially launched in Boston and now that we have launched in Dallas, we have a footprint in 15 major cities across the country.
Q: How does it work?
A: Drizly partners with local retailers to bring beer, wine and liquor to your fingertips for delivery. For example, in Indianapolis our retail partner is Big Red. Big Red uses the Drizly technology to upload its inventory, which then populates in our app or on our desktop site to show consumers their options while shopping. Users simply download the Drizly app to a smartphone (iPhone and Android) or log on to Drizly.com, and with a few taps of the finger, your favorite beer, wine or liquor is en route to your doorstep in less than an hour. Drizly never touches a bottle of alcohol or a cent from the transaction. The Drizly retail partner is the one who fulfills the order and executes delivery.
Q: After having expanded now to 15 markets, what have customers shared with you that have shaped making this a best experience at their door?
A: Giving our customers a superior shopping experience for alcohol delivery is one of our top priorities. We love when we hear feedback from our customers that shows they had an amazing experience. Late last year we ran a survey to find out what we did well for our customers.
"I loved the interface - it was fun to watch the progress of the driver. The price was comparable to going to purchase in-store. The convenience was outstanding."
"Fast, inexpensive, I liked the fact that you included the number of the liquor store just in case they needed to be contacted directly for some reason. The map is also a great reference as far as the time it might take for the alcohol to arrive."
Q: Are there any big data trends you can share with us per deliveries in the Indianapolis area – like peak times to order or top wines?
A: Across all our cities, we see order volume at the heaviest between Thursday night and Sunday, which comes as no surprise. Since we launched in Indianapolis, we’ve seen that some of the top beverages Indy residents enjoy include Kendall Jackson Chardonnay, Svedka Vodka, Bud Light, Barefoot Pinot Grigio and Coors Light.
Q: Are you able to forecast with your data to know what hot trends are around the corner – like people who order way too much Cynar, for example?
A: We certainly aim to provide as much useful data to our retail partners as possible. We can share data on what people are searching for, which can be helpful for retail stores if they aren’t carrying a highly searched item. That data can be a good indicator of an item a retailer might want to carry in the future. At the same time, since our retail partners pick, pack, deliver and process all Drizly orders, they can get a good sense of which items are selling and which they might want to stock up on to be prepared for future orders.
Q: In terms of social media, how do you stay connected to your users – either clients such as liquor stores or individual customers?
A: Social media is important to our business because there is only so much word of mouth discovery can do for a brand like ours. We tend to view Twitter and Instagram as our most engaged platforms. Instagram is great because it shows a more visual experience of our brand and allows us to see how our customers interact with our brand. Twitter allows us to communicate to new customers when we launch in a new city and allows us to keep our existing market customers abreast on the new partnerships and improvements we are making to our experience. Content is another important aspect of interacting with our customers. On our blog we have some great content around recipes to test out, new craft breweries to try and party planning ideas!
Q: We note you’re a Verizon customer, so we assume you like the reliability of our network (over competitors). Do you have a great Verizon network reliability story to share?
A: We are Verizon customers. We like the reliability of the network, which is key for building a business and why we have stayed with the service.
Q: And lastly, what’s your favorite cocktail, wine or beer?
A: My favorite drink is a glass of Macallan, neat. After that, I’m a Coors drinker, Coors Banquet or Coors Light.
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Photo credit - Drizly's Instagram
