Supplier spotlight Agave mezcal review

Agave Mezcal Review: Engaging with our partners

A lot of work goes on behind the scenes during a range review. Here we talk to our Spirits team and partners on how that process works and the opportunities for collaboration.

At Endeavour, we’re committed to building a vibrant drinks market that delivers engaging experiences for our customers and sustainable growth for our industry. Integral to this mission is continuing to innovate our stores and range, offering customers products that better meet their changing needs. Last year we launched our new way of working through Range Reviews which has resulted in the ability to deliver new tailored ranges in our stores, specific to the communities they serve. It has allowed us to be more agile, take a leadership role in trends and ultimately, increase the speed at which we can bring your products to market in the right stores, for the right customers, at the right time.

The opportunity

As part of this new Range Review cycle, our Category and Insights’ teams came together to investigate the trends that were happening in the market, as well as assessing what our customers were looking for from our range.

Agave had been building and gaining significant momentum, and we decided this sub-category was to be a focus during the Spirits Range Review process. Prior to COVID, we identified an increasing trend towards agave consumption - in particular Mezcal. The trend is being driven by several different customer occasions including customers looking for refreshing or different styles of cocktail like the Margarita, as well as customers who are looking for a premium Spirit outside of the traditional segments of Whisk(e)y or Brandy.

The process

Throughout the Range Review, our ambition was to quantify what we thought the future opportunity was, which allowed us to re-evaluate macro space allocations within Dan Murphy’s and the SKU count allocation to Agave within BWS. Once established, the team could then assess how many products were needed to achieve the outlined ambitions, including in which areas there were gaps in the current range, for both current and future customer demand.

We also took the opportunity to review the store clusters we had implemented, adding in a more premium cluster for Agave to enable better ranging of super premium products and the largest range possible. With our ambitions set, we were then able to share our plans with our supplier partners, sourcing a larger range of agave products. The response from our partners was outstanding and there was an impressive number of submissions which has resulted in a monumental shift in the Agave range and store availability that customers in Australia now have to choose from.

Collaborating on the range

As a vital part of our Range Review process, we spoke to some of our supplier partners on how they found working with the team to bring this new range to life.

Building Relationships: Ballhaus – Espiritu Lauro and Buen Bicho Stuart Andrews, Sales Director

Q: What is important to your business that you feel Endeavour delivers on?

In the developing Mezcal market of Australia, our company Ballhaus - which imports Espiritu Lauro and Buen Bicho mezcals - required a strong national representation, fostering boutique artisanal labels, and the Endeavour team conveyed their strong direction in Agave development which suited us perfectly.

For us, Endeavour’s willingness and understanding of the growing Mezcal market and diversification of Agave selection in Australia is exciting and forward thinking for future clientele.

With Espiritu Lauro and Buen Bicho being relatively new to the Australian market, Endeavour has helped in assisting to grow the business through different marketing and pricing strategies throughout the year, enabling further stable growth and visibility. One of the main hurdles for us initially was being able to deliver nationally, however Endeavour developed the fulfilled by endeavour system for ease of transportation which has helped immensely. Having an open dialogue with Endeavour and support teams gives the stability to invest more in the future development of Ballhaus imports with Espiritu Lauro and Buen Bicho in Australia and we look forward to a strong and exciting future with Endeavour.

Strategic Partnerships: Pernod Ricard – Olmeca, 1ltr Paul Harper, National Account Manager

Q: Can you tell us about how the conversation with Endeavour helped unlock value for both businesses?

The Agave category has been rupturing globally and locally, and the Olmeca Altos Brand is seeing the highest growth for tequila in Australian liquor and gaining great momentum in the global markets. Through conversation with the Spirits Category Manager, we identified a consumer opportunity for a 1 litre Premium Tequila as Dan Murphy’s was also seeing some strong sales uplift in the large formats. In collaboration with Endeavour Group, Pernod Ricard developed a new line of 1 litre premium tequila as a scalable exclusive and was launched in October 2022 which helps achieve the objectives that we are aligned to as part of our strategic partnership.

Building a Brand Together: Bacardi – Cazadores Prue Andrews, National Business Manager

Q: When considering an exclusive retail partner for Cazadores, why was

Endeavour your partner of choice?

Bacardi is a family-owned business that believes in building strong partnerships that drive long-term sustainable growth and we consider scalable exclusive as an important pillar of our partnership with Endeavour Group. Endeavour identified early on that Agave and Tequila was an emerging category where tailored range solutions could further unlock growth – an output of Customer first ranging (C1R) targeting the right range in front of the right customers. With a global portfolio in Agave, it was a natural fit for Bacardi-Martini to collaborate within this category and we have done this with the renowned brand Cazadores - the third largest premium tequila in the U.S.

Partnering exclusively with Endeavour provided an unparalleled opportunity to optimise the category and brand focus for Cazadores through a range of omnichannel solutions including their sophisticated digital shopper journey, 1:1 personalisation, large scale distribution, in-store visibility, consumer sampling, staff education as well as other content opportunities on Dan’s Daily. The resulting benefit is an amplified focus and execution for the Cazadores brand, with over 6 million members that could have an opportunity to see or hear about this amazing brand.

Partnering with Pinnacle: Proof Drinks Australia - Cazcabel Drew Doty, Managing Director

Q: Can you tell us about the benefits you see from partnering with Endeavour through Pinnacle to distribute in retail, while you focus on building the brand on-premise?

Partnering with Pinnacle on the Cazcabel brand has been a fantastic opportunity to help build the brand in the Australian market. The ability that Endeavour has to support exciting brands entering the retail space supports our business goals and allows us to leverage the on-premise opportunity. Three key areas that we see the benefits are in national availability, solid promotional support plan, and collaborative approach to drive customer sales. This also allows us a great platform to conduct sampling and store support by our specialist team. Focusing on the on-premise market allows us to engage customers at the point of purchase, drive curiosity around the brand, and support with marketing initiatives that would otherwise not be conducted. This means the visibility of the brand is well pronounced linking the on and off premise engagement for customers.