Smaller drinks businesses live in a different world

Written By Darren Oemcke

Last time I was asked to recommend a marketing book, I got a bemused response. A favourite of mine is about physics and microbiology that examines life at ‘small’ scale. It explores how microorganisms living in the same world as us experience it completely differently simply because they are so small.

It’s like rowing. To us it is water; to a microbe it feels like rowing through honey. When we stop rowing, the boat keeps gliding because momentum carries it on. The instant a microbe stops rowing, it stops moving. At that scale viscosity dominates, so microorganisms experience a world governed by very different physical forces.

I spent a lot of time observing microbes when I was a researcher, watching through a microscope how scale changes the physics of small things.

Similarly, smaller businesses operate under different physics than large businesses. The moment the owners or team stop rowing, the business seems to stop,  sales slow and projects stall. Everything depends on someone grinding away on those oars.

In a large producer, everything keeps moving. Teams are specialised, there is capability across the business, there is redundancy, and momentum carries the organisation forward.

Editorial illustration of a small winery owner trapped knee-deep in wet concrete, representing the challenges faced by SME beverage businesses.

The challenge isn’t working harder. It’s operating in a world where momentum doesn’t exist.

I feel very strongly that smaller wine and spirits businesses need a different approach to how they grow markets. Small producers don’t need scaled-down versions of approaches built for bigger businesses. They need a fundamentally different approach that matches their business environment.

In our early  work with Distillers SA. We realised SME producers didn’t need more reports that they didn’t have time to digest. They needed the micro, to know where their products had opportunities, who they  should approach, how to price for them, and what to do next. That’s where BevSage began.

SME’s are busy, they don’t need more cognitive overhead. They need to know what’s next. Things like:

  • Is this market worth entering?

  • How do I get into market?

  • How do I price my product?

  • What should I do next?

So we set out to build that. BevSage wasn’t designed to produce more reports. It was designed around the business physics of small producers. This week we’re proud to launch BevSage’s much easier to use second generation tools and a simpler use model.

Darren Oemcke