Distribution

Cerana Beverages (today known as B9 Beverages) is an import and distribution company. It owns
India’s first and largest draft beer dispense network in restaurants and bars. It imports and
distributes a portfolio covering major beer styles and more than 20 brands. B9 Beverages that owns
and sells the Bira 91 brand of beers currently sells five variants of its beer across seven states
covering 15 cities in India, top selling cities being Bengaluru and Delhi followed by Mumbai, Pune
and Kolkata. B9 Beverages has raised $50 million (Rs 332.6 crore) in a fresh round of funding from
Brussels-based investment firm Sofina. 90% of the proceeds will be used primarily for expansion of
Bira’ distribution in the Indian market. Below are the important channel partners through which Bira
91 is getting sold and should be planned to be sold. Some from each type of channel partners were
contacted.

 Retail shops: Having started off as a brand accessible primarily in restaurants, pubs and bars,
it is the retail arena that the company is targeting and should target more. More than 6000
outlets are currently selling Bira 91across 15 cities all over India. While several states, such
as Goa, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Punjab, Haryana, Karnataka, and Telangana have a
microbrewery policy, only Maharashtra, West Bengal and Goa permit microbreweries to sell
their beer outside of their own premises, although not at liquor retail stores, but in
restaurants and bars. Bira 91 has been able to sell at retail stores since they do not own any
microbrewery, and hence the laws that apply to microbreweries selling their own brew do
not apply to them. So Bira 91 is the first mover to sell at liquor retail stores. Many more
retail outlets covering more number of cities in Tier I category need to be launched. Plans
are also being made to expand the retail channel in other urban cities like Tier II, Tier III cities
where Bira is still not so popularly heard of. The aim is to reach each of the states and union
territories in coming days in retail as the brand is already built and consumers are now
seeking the product at retail shops
 Restaurants, pubs and bars : In India, nearly 70 percent of Bira 91’s sales come from
restaurants, pubs and bars, where it is available on-tap. It is available at “1,000-plus bars on-
tap”, largely in the National Capital Region and Mumba while 30 percent of sales come from
the retail of 330 ml bottles. 500ml bottle is newly introduced. In Bengaluru and Kolkata, due
to state excise policy regulations, it is sold only in bottles. Bira White and Bira Blonde are
getting sold in volumes, rest of the varieties are falling behind primarily due to shortage of
supply. The aim of distributors should be to ensure the availability of all the varieties at
adequate level of supply at restaurants, pubs and bars.

 Online retailers and M-tailers : Although most other beer brands are available in e-tailer
and m-tailer distribution channels, Bira is yet to mark its presence in this segment. Focus
should be brought on this front in future to cater to the increasing demand and to capture
larger market share.

Demand Supply incongruity issue in marketing distribution channel: Adequate supply shortage of
Bira products have always been a cause of concern. During the summer of 2016 Bira went out of
stock at most retail outlets. And there was huge consumer demand for the brand, which was selling
around 40,000 bottles a day. Jain and his team had failed to gauge demand correctly, and the
arrangement with its sole bottler in Haryana fell through; new bottling units were taking time to
start. Bira was selling at 10% loss towards the end of 2015. So it was burning cash. Until then, Jain
had been importing beer from Belgium and bottling it in India. It needed to cut costs. It needed to
brew in India, and it was taking more time than Jain and his investors imagined. Bira 91 had raised a
total of $38 million and currently produces beer at two facilities – a 210,000 barrel plant in Indore
and a 150,000 barrel plant in Nagpur — both of which the company leases and operates itself. The
company plans to lease a third space that is located in Rajasthan, and is capable of producing as
much as 600,000 barrels annually. The company has also finalized plans to put up its fourth brewery
in southern India soon. Still, sales have been brisk across cities. Stocks vanish in one or two days as
confirmed by Gurgaon pub owners. However, this has also left fans high and dry because the supply
of Bira 91 continues to be erratic; most so for the 330 ml bottles. So distribution network should
plan of improving on this front in order to rule the market space.

Distribution in International market :

 USA : Bira has already set foot in key global markets such USA. It has launched its brand in
New York, New Jersey, Boston and Philadelphia in the US. So far, Bira is being imported from
a Belgian brewery to sell in New York. But by next summer, Jain is looking at running his own
brewery in the US. In New York the company self-distributes, and in New Jersey through a
trio of wholesalers that includes Peerless Beverage Company, Kramer Beverage, and Shore
Point Distributing In US, Bira is being sold by online e-tailers like minibardelivery.com,
drizly.com etc in large numbers apart from restaurants, pubs and bars.

 Other International markets : Bira has already launched in Asia Pacific countries like
Singapore and Nepal and is targeting launches in UK,Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Hong
Kong through distribution partnershipsJain has plans to export Bira to these countries and
replicate the model he developed in India—beer on tap in restaurants at accessible price
points, much lower than other imported ones, and later making Bira available in retail
stores. Like he is planning to have own brewing unit for the US market, Jain will look at
having facilities, through partnerships, in each of the new countries once the volume
reaches 10,000-20,000 barrels per annum.