Tipple: rethinking brand building and distribution strategies
Eoin Bara, CEO of Tipple, created his company to offer flexible solutions for direct-to-consumer and business-to-business expansion across Europe. He shares valuable insights into building new routes to market, and why in today’s competitive market it’s imperative to think outside the box when it comes to growing a brand’s distribution footprint.
Bara was originally in the business of distilling and brand building, having set up a gin distillery, called Mór Irish Gin in Tullamore in Ireland in 2015. The company was sold in 2022, marking Bara’s exit from the business.
Prior to this, in 2019, Bara and his team were trying to grow the brand but struggled to get distribution. He spotted an opportunity to create a central warehouse with cross-border access to enable the company to grow its availability, while simultaneously streamlining its distribution operations. Not only this, but Bara thought if he and the Mór Irish Gin team were experiencing this issue, others must be as well.
“One of the problems we were coming across was, well, how do we expand this into Germany? How do we expand into the Netherlands? What I didn’t want was a warehouse in every country and a shipping partner in every country, and having boxes in every country,” Bara recalled during a talk at The Spirits Business Hub during ProWein 2025.
Speaking to editor-in-chief of The Spirits Business Melita Kiely, Bara continued: “If you looked at Europe, 27 different countries, I need 27 different warehouses – that wasn’t going to scale. So what we took was the harder question, which was: how do we do cross-border alcohol e-commerce, and how do we get our brand in the hands of the people that want it, and how do we create brand awareness across Europe?”
Bara noted how during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns, consumers became more aware of buying alcohol online. It not only offered convenience but a broader selection of alcohol options compared with in-store experiences.
“Demand spiked from 2020 to 2024,” Bara said. “Now, there’s an inverse correlation. So what we kind of see is that in market reports, we’re seeing that everyone’s saying the alcohol industry is down. But as an e-commerce provider, we’re actually seeing that our brands are continuing to grow because the channel is so low it’s starting at an 8% penetration into e-commerce. Whereas normal e-commerce is somewhere around 16%.”
Bara recently posted on LinkedIn about the “elephant in the room”, which was how acquiring new customers is only getting more expansive.
He elaborated on this during the discussion at ProWein: “We operate in the US, Europe and we’re opening up in Australia. What we see in the US is to acquire a customer is about US$55 to US$75, but it’s got a more mature alcohol e-commerce market. So you’ve got more competition buying ads for the people that are going to respond to your product.
“In the UK, which is a more mature alcohol e-commerce market, it’s about £35 to £45, and if you look at Central Europe, we’re seeing [an] average of about €20 to €25 to acquire that customer.
“Now, if you look at the split of purchases for that person, every year they buy about four bottles. So we go, OK, it’s €20, but it only costs me €5 to sell that bottle. Then if you look over the lifetime value of that person, what we’re seeing so far now that we’ve only kind of been selling two to three years, but you’re seeing people who are just continuously buying on that pattern. So, the lifetime value of that customers is far higher than what it cost you to acquire them. So what’s going to happen is there’s going to be more competition; there’s going to be more ads, more spirits brands, and it’ll just get busier, and it’ll be less successful.”
Head to The Spirits Business’ YouTube channel for further videos from The Spirits Business Hub at ProWein 2025.
Click the video below for the full conversation with Bara.
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