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Toast to success as recession leads IT expert to launch website hailing the micro-breweries
AN IT contractor whose work dried up in the recession has launched a website to promote Britain's micro-breweries.
Ed Turner, who is from Huddersfield, set up mybrewerytap.com to help small brewers sell their drinks to a wider public.
The site was launched two months ago, but the website has been in development for a year, said Mr Turner, whose business partner is Richard Burhouse.
Mr Turner, 33, said: "I'm from the IT contract arena, and the last 18 months has been quite hard from the contracting perspective.
"Therefore, we decided to put together our own website which could bring micro-brewers on to an online platform, bringing them closer to customers and create an additional route to market.
"Many small brewers cannot create enough quantities for the likes of the supermarkets. Our website has more variety than your typical supermarket because of the range of our small brewers."
Each brewer sets their own retail price, of which mybrewerytap.com takes 13 per cent. In return, the company promotes the brewers' products on mybrewerytap.com and also produces a website for the brewer.
Orders are dispatched through a specialist business-to-consumer home delivery company. So far, the business has signed up 65 breweries. It acts as an agent, using the brewers' licence to sell alcohol.
The website sells beers from around the UK, but has a concentration of brewers in Yorkshire. The region has the largest number of brewers in the UK, said Mr Turner.
He added: "Provenance is something people look for. They look for local quality produce. Beer sales in terms of lager have been going down in public houses, but real ale sales are increasing. Pubs are putting on more real ales to entice customers in."
Mr Turner and Mr Burhouse have invested around 40,000 in setting up the business, with the majority spent on website development, legal fees and sales personnel.
They are hoping that a promotion called the 52 Week Beer Club will boost the profile of mybrewerytap.com. Currently the site's biggest seller, the 69.99 loss leader gives customers 52 real ales from 52 different breweries from around the UK over a year.
Mr Turner said: "It gives brewers the opportunity to get their beers out there and it gives customers the opportunity to taste different types of beer they probably wouldn't normally taste."
The company has developed a relationship with Yorkshire Crisps and this week began selling its products through the website alongside the beer. The owners plan to hit turnover of 1m in the first year.
Asked what lessons he has learned so far, Mr Turner said: "Like any drinks product, it needs a lot of advertising and promotion. It's quite easy to sell if you have the customer, but it's getting the customer that's difficult."
However, sales have been picking up and last week the company had its biggest daily sales rate to date, with 10 orders. The current bestseller is a Christmas mixed brewery case of beer, retailing at 24.99.
Mr Turner is confident the web platform he has developed has the potential to be applied to other products, citing its ability to bring together a large number of companies in one market place.
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Friday 10 February 2012
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