MikMak debuts retail marketing, out-of-stock tech solution for beer brands

If you sell beer at retail, you no doubt know the struggles of managing fresh inventory. On the retail side, a recent study by Retail Insight estimates that retailers lose 8% of revenue through poor inventory availability. For the actual buyer of beer, it is also frustrating if what you came for just isn’t there, which happens much more often due to pandemic / supply chain-related issues. Two tech companies announced this week they are meeting in the middle to provide beverage brands insight into how their digital marketing efforts are driving in-store purchases — and also keeping consumers informed on where they can buy out of stock items.

Those two companies are MikMak, a software company that provides eCommerce analytics and shopping experiences, and Vermont Information Processing (VIP), a technology supplier for brewers, distributors, wineries, and so on. The partnership will use MikMak Commerce Discover, an omnichannel geo-location aware shopping solution, to offer consumers shopping for beer, wine, and spirits the ability to see even more nearby in-store checkout options including mass, supermarkets, grocery, liquor, drug, convenience, gas, bodegas, bars, tasting rooms, and restaurants.

“With 71% of consumers reporting that retail out-of-stock issues are worse now than at the start of the pandemic, this partnership is providing beverage brands with a key solution for connecting their marketing campaigns to in-stock items,” said Rachel Tipograph, CEO and founder of MikMak. “Through this new partnership with Vermont Information Processing, MikMak is providing shoppers with the beverages that they want, while also providing brands with valuable insights into how their omnichannel marketing is performing.”

With VIP and MikMak, beverage brands gain first-party data to better understand which platforms, retailers, campaigns, regions and more are influencing shoppers on their path-to-purchase. The insights also unveil how brands are driving incremental traffic and revenue to individual and local retailers via non-retailer media, therefore strengthening relationships with these retailers.

Some MikMak Commerce Discover 2.0 Updates

In addition to today’s partnership, several enhancements are being made to MikMak Commerce Discover that will soon be available across all product categories, including:

• Exact location option – Enables the shopper to share their precise location to ensure they see the retailers closest to them, by distance.
• Search Radius drop-down menu – Gives shoppers control of the distance they’re willing to travel and prioritizes stores based on proximity.
• Clickable store cards – Automatically opens up the selected location in the shopper’s preferred map app, and clicking the phone number dials the selected store location.