PROVENANCE of a brand matters to consumers across every channel, making local products key must-stocks for the year ahead.
And this is what Dunbar-based brewery Belhaven is banking on in the convenience sector, as the brand reckons its Scottish heart will help it to resonate with consumers across the country.
Keeping to local has been a popular trend across the convenience channel lately and Steven Sturgeon, marketing controller at Belhaven, believes this could be good news for more local brews.
He said: “We know for a fact that people want to buy local products and that’s become more important lately.
“If you look at Scotland compared to the rest of the UK, Scottish people are more likely to buy local than UK consumers are as a whole.
“So why shouldn’t people be buying Belhaven? Especially when it comes to Belhaven Best, which is the number one ale in the on trades.”
In a bid to push select beers from its range, Belhaven has teamed up with Archerfield House resort to encourage more consumers to pair up the brand’s beers with different meals for dinner time.
As part of this collaboration, Belhaven has hosted public events, inviting consumers to try the beers paired with specially prepared meals from Archerfield chefs.
Beers included in this were Belhaven Craft Pilsner, Belhaven Scottish Oat Stout, Belhaven Scottish Ale and Belhaven Black Scottish Stout.
And Sturgeon believes this idea can be replicated across the convenience channel by linking up the Belhaven range.
“When it comes to the typical convenience shop, consumers are thinking, ‘I’m on my way home, I can’t be bothered to cook, so I’ll grab something quick and easy and I’ll need a drink to go with it.’
“To me, that’s a perfect opportunity for beer sales in particular.
“We recently ran some activity with a convenience group like this – where we advertised buying our 80 Shilling beer with a pie and the other was buy Best and pick up a pizza.
“And during the six weeks it ran, we saw a spike in sales with our beers. So, again, there’s a wonderful opportunity in that convenience and impulse to help create these link-up sales and generate more of an event for consumers’ evenings.
“The Belhaven range includes some great award-winning beers that satisfy the impulse ready-meal dinner and a beer buy from consumers.”
