Confessions of a spirits retail buyer: Master of Malt

Toby Cutler, the new head of spirits buying for online retailer Master of Malt discusses the importance of good customer service and what spirits sell best online

At Master of Malt we like to stock the majority of products out there – the value and range offered to our customers is the most important thing we have as a business. But, of course, we like to sell lovely things, that’s why we’re here in the first place – a genuine love of spirits. So when I look at new products I will consider if the price point fits the quality. If not, that’s when negotiations happen.

In a way we are not that different from a store you can go into, apart from the fact you don’t have face-to-face contact. But we have a customer service team readily available by phone or on the website if you want to speak to anyone about any of the products we stock. We try to provide a fantastic customer experience, with our personality showing through in everything we do, from an excellent, quick search tool through to the tasting notes, bucket loads of information, interaction, our blog and fast delivery service; it’s the best experience you can have without the bricks and mortar.

Most people who come to the site will have a product in mind, but everyone’s palate is different. Some consumers are quite traditional and enjoy a Scotch with all its history, but others are looking for new and interesting things from an emerging region or category. Special offers can help, of course, but for me the most important thing – and something when I shop myself I feel we as society could be in danger of losing – is service.

We like to stay ahead of the game and be one of the first to know what’s coming up in the next few months. A lot of the time, we tend to find things out through the grapevine through talking to people in the industry. If we can be the first to stock something, we will definitely try to be.

Whisky is always the best-selling spirit, without question, but gins are also performing extremely well at the moment; Professor Cornelius Ampleforth’s Bathtub Gin in particular is selling very well. Gin is definitely the hot category right now, followed by rum. We get offers from new gins nearly every week.

Nowadays in the whisky category you don’t just have whiskies from Scotland, Ireland or America. Taiwan, Holland, Japan, Australia – whisky is being made nearly everywhere. They are all capable of producing excellent varieties with their own unique characteristics. Whiskies from India are very good, but you would be hard pushed to find a whisky over five years old because of the much greater angel’s share.

It’s not hugely challenging ultimately because we work in a fun industry really. We sell people their pleasure for the weekends and evenings, although that can sometimes be forgotten. I suppose the most challenging part of my job is at the beginning of the relationship with a new supplier. You both have expectations for your products and a strategy for your respective businesses, so you have to find a middle ground that makes both parties happy. From then on it’s about enthusing the customer to make the best of it.

The most exciting part is experiencing new and interesting flavours that I haven’t tasted before. It’s not often you taste something truly innovative; no-one’s created a brand new category in my time in the industry but there are an awful lot of imaginative people putting great twists on older concepts.

The other thing I really enjoy is mezcal. It’s got the potential to attract some whisky consumers with its smoky flavour, which is very similar to Islay whiskies. Flavour and quality-wise it’s brilliant stuff, but it needs one of the big companies to really get behind the category. If they can give it a big push, I really think it could take off. Sadly, when Tequila came over to the UK originally and was pushed as a shooter with salt and lime, a trick was missed. If all three – mezcal, sotol and Tequila – came over at the same time and were treated with proper respect, they would be a lot more popular now.