Heineken unveils new trade website for pubs

Over 18-months in development the website is now up-and-running and a second, similar site for Star Pubs and Bars has also been launched.

The brewer aims to take 25% of all customer orders through the site by the end of the year and has promised there won’t be a reduction in staff at its First Point call centre, nor in the number of sales reps on the road, as a result.

“It’s fair to say we are late to market with this,” admitted Lawson Mountstevens, managing director, on-trade.

“However the benefit of that is we were able to look at what was already available, take the best bits and improve them. We’ve benchmarked the site against the best in class, such as Amazon and Tesco.”

The site offers 24-hour ordering, access to all invoices, exclusive online promotions, business advice and industry news.

“The new website will remove some of the previous complexities of doing business with Heineken and help unlock the huge sales opportunities that the cider and beer categories present,” Mountstevens said.

“By engaging with licensees at times when they are most receptive, we can…offer them round-the-clock flexibility and ultimately help boost sales and profitability.”