For every business, a wave of new Covid-19 restrictions and lockdowns can bring significant disruption to their operations and imperil their survival. For Victorian brewery Hawkers Beer, the use of data analytics is critical to weather the storm and build a path back to profitability.
When the Covid-19 pandemic struck, the independent brewer encountered an onset of new challenges such as understanding and managing their cash on-hand and dealing with extreme fluctuations in demand and available supply. The forced closure of pubs and bars and cancellation of major events also threatened to devastate its business, with 90 per cent of its revenue coming from selling beer to these venues.
Faced with a need to transform its business model to focus on direct-to-consumer and compete against mainstream beer behemoths, Hawkers Beer partnered with The Data School to use Alteryx Advanced Analytics to find new ways to optimise its business processes. Now, the brewer has expanded the use of data analytics across its sales and product teams to improve forecasting and reach new customers.
“We’re one of the only independent craft breweries in Australia using data analytics– we don’t have the resources like some of the big boys,” said Mazen Hajjar, CEO and co-founder of Hawkers Beer. “Alteryx is ultimately a great equaliser in that sense. It gives us much more power, with much less resources. We have the ability to perform advanced analytics to our data – without a whole department of data analysts and scientists.”
Through predictive data analytics, Hawkers Beer is able to adjust its production when there is high inventory, long production or replenishment lead-time, as well as variances in demand for its product. By performing cash flow forecasting, the brewer was able to analyse its real-time data to make a critical decision to temporarily withdraw from the Queensland market last year to strengthen its bottom line.
“The ability to understand our areas of profitability and where we should focus our energies is the difference between simply surviving and thriving during Covid-19,” said Hajjar. “By addressing data we’ve been able to manage inventory levels and cash flow more efficiently. We’re far more profitable now and our bottom line has changed completely, so much so we’ll be out of debt in 15 months.”
By blending and cleansing data with its existing SAP system and combining other data sources, the brewer has uncovered new insights on customer segments and new marketing and sales opportunities. Hawkers Beer can use real-time sales data and customer behaviour data to understand who is purchasing its different varieties of beer and where, to determine the best location to sell and when.
“Since its inception, Hawkers Beer has made its mark on the Australian craft beer industry as a disrupter. We are proud to partner with Hawkers Beer on its data automation journey, to help the company better manage and influence its cash flow and take the guesswork out of customer conversion and engagement so that the world can drink better beers,” said JJ Phillips, country manager at Alteryx ANZ.
