Regular customers of the Jolly Boatman may not be aware that the licensee is now doing his ordering over the internet but they might well have noticed improvements at their pub that are a direct result of his move into e-purchasing.
There are different products behind the bar, new wines advertised on a specials board and no interruptions to service caused by telesales calls on a Thursday lunchtime!
The Jolly Boatman, at Kidlington in Oxfordshire, is one of more than 250 tenanted pubs that since the beginning of this year have joined Greene King Pub Partners' online purchasing system.
An intranet version of the Barbox website that freetraders have used for several years, the system enables licensees to put in their weekly order at any time without waiting for a telesales call. And for Boatman tenant Steve Provis, who has been using it for five months, there are other, unexpected advantages giving a genuine boost to his business.
"Ordering online not only saves time," says Steve, "it gets you looking for products you don¹t usually stock. We're doing more wine, for instance, because there are some good bargains on the site and I put them on the specials board that wasn¹t something we did before." As well as flagging up the special deals for the day, the site displays the price of each item ordered a feature that has also changed what Steve buys.
"You look at prices a lot more, you are more conscious of the price you¹re paying and you can see if it¹s gone up. It forces you to decide whether to absorb the increase or pass it on to your customers. Or you might look for stronger brands that might sell better.
"Without being able to see the prices like this you tend to forget they¹ve been going up and just absorb it, which can damage your business without you realising what¹s happening." Steve goes online to do his ordering once a week, and if there¹s anything he¹s forgotten he can always go back and update the list.
"In the past telesales would phone me about 2pm on a Thursday, at the end of the lunch period, and it never seemed to be a good time. I might be stuck behind the bar on my own and still serving while I was doing my order, so it became a rush job.
"Now I do it on a Wednesday night. I sit down with a drink when the pub¹s closed and I can take my time and have a look around the site for what¹s available. I¹ve changed a lot of drinks brands for others that are selling better across the bar. Another thing is I¹m going on holiday in November and I can put in the orders just before I go so I don't have to worry about leaving it to staff."
Steve, who has more than 30 years experience in the trade, admits he's "only average" when it comes to computer literacy. "But the system¹s dead easy, it¹s just a matter of ticking boxes," he says. "There were a couple of glitches early on. It wasn¹t clear whether I was ordering wines by the bottle or case, for instance, and one week I got two bottles instead of the two cases I wanted.
"Then when I ordered 24 bottles I got a call asking me whether I really wanted 24 cases!
"But that¹s all sorted out now. There¹s a good back-up team on the end of the phone line."
And Steve's final verdict?
"Anything that makes life easier for licensees has to be good and this is one of the few things I¹ve seen in the past five years that does that!"