The BevAl Product Content Checklist for a Toast-worthy Q4

Hot buttered rum by the fire. Fresh pumpkin ales on tap. Champagne to welcome in the New Year.

OND (October/November/December) is a peak time of year for consumers to celebrate and enjoy the holiday season with their favorite beverages. And it’s also a critical period for BevAl brands to grow their sales and finish strong. As the end of 2022 looms, there’s still time to take action and make the most of every single purchase opportunity.

Even with an uncertain economic future looming and lingering headwinds like labor shortages and supply chain disruptions, players in the beverage industry are poised for strong, consistent growth. After a spike in sales in 2020, growth potential has remained steady and is on pace to surpass $232 billion this year.

That’s a big pumpkin pie! But growth potential doesn’t guarantee results; if you want a big slice, you’ve got to be ready for a fight.

The beverage market has never been more competitive, with new entrants and established players introducing new products at a terrific pace. Beverage producers around the world are also increasingly looking across international borders to new markets, bringing new competition and market dynamics.

Pressure to adapt and change is coming externally, too. Consumers’ preferences for pricing, packaging, and flavor standards are shifting rapidly—and so are requirements from retailers and distributors.

Shelves, both physical and digital, are getting crowded and noisy. Are you standing out?

Take Control Heading Into OND

Q4 has long been a make-or-break period for BevAl brands, often the difference between hitting your revenue goals or falling short.

But as we approach the end of the year, the list of tools at your disposal to make a difference to revenue numbers gets pretty short.

Retailers are busy and unable to accommodate changes or disruptions to their holiday strategies. ECommerce sites and digital platforms go into code freezes to avoid the risk of breaking under the stress of a flood of holiday shopping traffic. Launching a new promotion or campaign on short notice could be prohibitively expensive or logistically impossible.

But there’s still a powerful lever beverage and alcohol brands can pull to make meaningful improvements to your OND performance: product content. Follow these steps to develop a competitive content plan and end the year on a high note.

1. Winning on a Crowded BevAl Shelf with Stellar Product Content

Strong product content is hugely important for making the most of every sales opportunity.:

• Accurate, complete information builds consumer trust and makes them feel confident in making a purchase
• Compelling marketing copy tells your product story and highlights differentiating features and benefits
• Supporting imagery and rich experiences distinguish your products from the competition and deliver an exceptional experience

Of course, it’s easier said than done. One common challenge for BevAl brands in developing content is making sure they have the right content for every need.

Today’s BevAl brands need content to compete in store circulars, on multiple eCommerce platforms, in digital and print advertisements, and in-store promotional materials. Every retail recipient can have unique, particular requirements for data format, image quality, attributes and more; it’s hard to cover all your bases.

There’s essential core product information like dimensions, weights, and baseline product images required by most retailers:

Plus, more compelling optimized and lifestyle content that can highlight key features or messages and help consumers make quick purchase decisions.

Need help generating content that catches eyes, stands out from the crowd, and inspires purchases?

Syndigo’s comprehensive content creation solutions can help you quickly generate, enrich, and verify all product and information and assets needed to compete for a spot in the tailgate cooler, in a signature Halloween cocktail, or beneath the tree this year.

2. Enhanced Content, Enhanced BevAl Experiences

For brands really ready to have happy holidays, there’s another way to wrap up your product in an irresistible content package for shoppers through Q4: Enhanced Content.

Enhanced Content is where products move from simple descriptions to a complete experience. It’s a way to directly connect with consumers, keep them on the page longer, and make more emotional connections to the product. It has a huge impact on your OND performance, too: Enhanced Content is shown to lift add-to-cart rates for beverage products by 287%!

Enhanced Content is especially well suited for the many seasonal and holiday-themed beverage options that crop up throughout the last quarter of the year.

The interactive and rich media solutions make it perfect for comparing your autumnal pumpkin spice product line, featuring a wintry cocktail recipe utilizing your product, or showcasing vivid lifestyle imagery of people enjoying your limited-time Oktoberfest style beer.
Simply put: compelling content converts.

3. Superior Syndication

Excellent content is a good start, but it won’t get you far if you can’t get it to the right place at the right time.

The BevAl marketplace is a complex network of retailers, distributors, suppliers and regulatory bodies: filtering accurate, timely product information and assets from the source to the final destination is complicated but crucially important.

This is the content shoppers will see when making purchase decisions for holiday gift buying or party preparation. It’s also the data retailers will use to design their planograms to find a place for your products on their shelves through the chaotic holiday shopping season. Incomplete or inaccurate information means missed sales opportunities.

Now is the right time to ensure your beverage brand can seamlessly syndicate product content to all your leading retail sellers before the heart of the holidays.

Syndigo has best-in-class connections with all the leading beverage sellers in North America.

And our vast retail network of 1750 recipients includes leading convenience stores, grocers, and supermarkets and package store chains responsible for selling the vast majority of all BevAl products. Our depth of expertise and close relationships with these recipients ensures your BevAl product content gets where it needs to go quickly and in the correct format.

Winning in Online Grocery and Delivery With Swift Syndication

Syndigo’s recipient list includes fast-growing online shopping and delivery solutions like FreshDirect and Instacart. These channels are becoming especially important channels as online and grocery marketplaces have shown a 271% increase in BevAl sales since 2019.

“Alcohol e-commerce is a clear growth driver for our retail partners, which typically see their basket sizes increase by 25% with alcohol,” says Chris Rogers, Vice President of Global Retail at Instacart.

Investments into online grocery shopping and delivery options will pay dividends through OND and beyond;  they’re forecasted to grow at an impressive 40%+ over the next four years.

Get Your Eggnog off The Shelf…

…and into the shopping cart. It’s not too late to organize irresistible content for your BevAl products and move the needle through Q4. Don’t get left behind!