Sweden’s monopolist alcohol retailer Systembolaget offers home deliveries

Sweden | In Sweden there is only one company that is allowed to sell full strength beer, wine and spirits: Systembolaget. Actually, the state monopoly does not want to make it too easy for its compatriots to drink alcohol. But now the company is offering a nationwide delivery service for the first time.

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Heineken and FEMSA end spat and redesign distribution partnership

Brazil | It is just a reshuffle of brand between two systems, but a milestone for Heineken. The Dutch brewer has wanted for years to terminate its distribution contract with Coca-Cola FEMSA, in order to expand its Brazilian distribution network which acquired from Kirin in 2017. FEMSA disagreed and the two were forced to enter into arbitration.

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Uber buys alcohol delivery app Drizly for up to USD 1.1 billion

USA | A cool price for a piece of technology. Uber said on 2 February 2021 that it has acquired the alcohol delivery service Drizly, the latest purchase for the ride-hailing company, as it seeks to diversify its business after a pandemic-related decline in rides. Drizly’s sales boomed in 2020, growing more than 330 percent, it was reported, after many consumers stopped dining out and redirected their dollars towards take-aways and deliveries.

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Building digital relationships with alcohol consumers

USA | What did Americans learn in 2020? Among other things, that you can legally order alcohol online and have it delivered to your doorstep. In a poll 44 percent of respondents said that 2020 was the first year they bought alcohol over the internet.

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Boston beer baron embroiled in legal spat with two sons

USA | Jerry Sheehan, 89, has fallen out with two of his sons, after they filed a suit which accuses him of “misappropriating” USD 80 million of company funds, by splitting it with his six other children, on top of paying himself USD 45 million.

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Heineken trials in-store beer taps in Paris supermarket

France | The covid-19 pandemic forces brewers to get more creative. Long a feature of US supermarkets, Heineken has finally latched onto the concept in Europe. The brewer is running a trial for draught beer dispensers and returnable growlers in a supermarket in Paris.

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Yuengling expands distribution with Molson Coors joint venture

USA | Looks like brewer Molson Coors has lots of spare capacity. In September 2020 Molson Coors Beverage and D.G. Yuengling & Son formed a joint venture that will expand the reach of America’s oldest brewery to millions more drinkers outside its mostly East Coast distribution territory.