Confessions of a retailer: Amathus Drinks
The purchasing manager for Amathus Drinks, Stefan Botfield, on the rewards of finding the ‘golden’ product and 2016’s hot property.
Exclusivity, opportunity, quality and authenticity of products are paramount qualities when we consider buying spirits as an agent when we import. Marketing and supplier interaction – along with innovation – are also key. All of these factors make quite a big difference to our decision.
But the proof is in the blind tasting. We blind taste by committee the products we potentially want to list. Everything we sell involves a lot of consideration and we have a set of criteria that we try to work towards.
It’s all about letting the product speak for itself. A really great quality product is bound to get our interest. It also helps to see clear brand direction and willingness for the brand to support our efforts, as well as vice versa.
We recently took on Rum Barcelo from the Dominican Republic and they are a fantastic quality example of a product that has gone through our tasting sessions and has come up as being a brilliant spirit.
Seasonal changes do occur, but sales within spirits tend to be fairly constant. Pimm’s is one example that sells huge amounts in the summer, but nobody drinks it in the winter. It’s a fairly subtle change as we see slightly more aged spirits selling well during winter. Though generally speaking there is a lot of consistency.
Gin is one example of this. Over the last 12 months white spirits have generally dominated the market, and gin has really increased its presence over the last few years. I think the growing interest in craft, which stems from the booming craft beer market, is definitely playing a part in this. Small batch, artisanal products are big at the moment and I think we’re definitely going to see that increase next year and beyond.
Time is probably the most challenging thing to manage with this job, keeping organised and juggling projects to make sure we’re constantly developing our portfolio. That all gets driven by the purchasing angle, but sourcing credible products that will take to the market is not as easy as it sounds. We taste everything blind and we can be completely amazed by the product, but the wider packaging isn’t strong enough.
We do take some risks and it’s interesting to see what does well as consumers are so much more educated these days. It’s an enjoyable task.
When you find that golden nugget, it’s incredibly rewarding – that’s probably my favourite part about what I do. There’ll be that rare occasion where we’re all sat tasting something blind and agree what we have in front of us is something very, very special. It’s a really exciting feeling when you’re presented with such a solid tasting.
Premium and super-premium spirits have been visibly more popular over the last few years and I think we can expect to see more of that in the year to come. Local UK-based spirits are definitely trending at the moment and that goes hand in hand with small-batch craft distilleries, which will be hot property in 2016.
A lot of retailers are quite reactive, and react very well to market conditions, selling the tried and tested products available at many other agents. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, but it isn’t particularly dynamic.
Where we try to be different is, alongside testing those brands, we also strive to bring on products – or even categories – to the market that aren’t available to a mass audience, and take calculated risks along the way. I think that’s what really sets us apart.
