Looking for info on Home Brew statistics

kbfdirect

After years of being unemployed I am looking at opening a shop selling home brew supplies and equipment. I know this was done years ago and I would like to get some facts and figures regarding the amount bought/sold annually in Ireland. Can anyone point me in the right direction where to get this info?

oblivious

Muntons Homebrewing are one of the largest suppliers of kits and equipment into Ireland. They might be able to provide you with data

www.muntonshomebrew.com/

poitinstill

you could also contact Brian at homebrewwest he is the wholesaler for a lot of popular brands like coopers . a hard place to cut a margin Vs online retailers .

Buona Fortuna

kbfdirect wrote: »

After years of being unemployed I am looking at opening a shop selling home brew supplies and equipment. I know this was done years ago and I would like to get some facts and figures regarding the amount bought/sold annually in Ireland. Can anyone point me in the right direction where to get this info?

Hi kbf

I've no better idea than the two above where to get the information that you need from.

I'm relatively new to homebrewing. There's nothing I'd like better than to be able to go into town and chew the cud with someone about this or that, pick up the airlock or tap or nice measuring jug that I needed right then.

Having said that I'd just urge you to exercise a good bit of caution in this venture. These online boys are big. They've trimmed their overheads to the minimum and they're getting the best possible deal they they can from the likes of Coopers et al.

The point then is that while I may appreciate the convinience of your shop and come for a chat, buy a bit of tube, even drink your coffee, how much of a premium am I going to pay on a beerkit?

I wish you well kbf

kbfdirect

Thanks all for your comments, I'll have to keep looking for the sats though. Would dearly like to find some.

Cheers!

sharingan

You could write off to the various suppliers yourself. AFAIK stats are not great on homebrewing.

Even in the UK, the numbers cited for people brewing at home seem quite small, but those numbers also lump people who got a beginners kit, with AG brewers who turn around 50 x 20L of brew a year.

If anything though, home brewers are a frugal lot, always looking to cut costs in some way, either through bulk buying of ingredients, building/adapting their own kit etc.

It is hard to make money from it, without some unusual edge.

Hingo

there's been a few new Homebrew shops opening up and I've seen a few people express interest in doing the same on other forums in the last 12 months, it could turn into a case of if you build it they will come.. but I think Sharingan hit the nail on the head.


You could try a promotional USP like free introductory home brew class when you buy a starter kit - get the new guys on board with your shop.

If your shop is bricks & mortar based in Dublin City, you'll have my business . Growing tired of hunting the various websites for what I need.

sharingan

There are really 2 kinds of home brew shops.

Online, where you compete on price, product range, product availability and delivery costs. This is a crowded market and you are also competing with UK online shops to a degree.

Retail, where you compete on immediate availability and in store services, like demonstrations, training, club meetups, crush your grains on site, and buying only what you need (i.e. buy 200g of Biscuit Malt, freshly crushed for your recipe, rather than buy a 1Kg bag, crush it in your own house, and use only 200g).

Retail is more expensive, but delivery costs of online shops give you a bit of a price buffer. I live in London, and in the last year or so a swathe of retail HBS have opened up. It is important to note that *none* of them make their money exclusively from home brew supplies. (one is an off license primarily, another is in a microbrewery tap room, another is a bespoke brewing business that do HBS on the side, and another is in a local market but they sell beer as well).

Some large supermarkets and chains sell the ingredient kits and basic supplies. The shops I mentioned above cater primarily to all grain brewers.

rubadub

sharingan wrote: »

It is hard to make money from it, without some unusual edge.

I would like to hear ideas people would have to standout from the crowd.

People are put off by the high postage costs in ireland. Some have a reasonable flat fee but you see people complaining about having to pay maybe €5 for a pack of yeast to be delivered.

I think one guy was working out of his home and I think might have met up with people. So he saved on the overheads of a shop. I am surprised there is no shop near me that I know of in south dublin. They used to stock it in the country cellar in dun laoghaire which is closed years now, a few health food shops used to have it. They could just get a few kits in. I was thinking a weekly market stall could do well.

sharingan

Retail HBS shops cannot compete online on price, even with delivery taken into account.

Most people do significant sized orders to get around the steep delivery charges for online stores.

The yeast delivery costs grates though, and I get around it by ordering large amounts of yeast (e.g. 15-20 sachets). This is no good for liquid yeasts though.

All of the London retail HBS shops are run by all grain brewers. Which is telling.

Hingo

sharingan wrote: »

Retail HBS shops cannot compete online on price, even with delivery taken into account.

Most people do significant sized orders to get around the steep delivery charges for online stores.

The yeast delivery costs grates though, and I get around it by ordering large amounts of yeast (e.g. 15-20 sachets). This is no good for liquid yeasts though.

All of the London retail HBS shops are run by all grain brewers. Which is telling.

It's more convenience in my case, I needed a few bits n bobs this month, went and ordered a Fermenter and few other things online this week. Got delivered today and The Fermenter was meant to include a tap and airlock but the lads forgot to include it in the delivery. Fair enough these things happen but I can't use the FV now (hole in the bottom where the tap should be, planned to brew at an open day on Saturday for national homebrew day (October 4th ppl, mark it down!)

A walk in store would have saved the day.

Buona Fortuna

^^^ Yes

Some of the online boys have atrocious customer service.

In the example above, if it was an HBS and guy said said sorry, maybe he could drop it round, deliver to work stick one in the post. A bit of care and flexibility.

Some of the online stores don't answer an e-mail for 4 days. When they did answer it was to say "Did I look in the box?" It was difficult to give a civil reply.

I like the ideas above though

Ronan|Raven

Hingo wrote: »

It's more convenience in my case, I needed a few bits n bobs this month, went and ordered a Fermenter and few other things online this week. Got delivered today and The Fermenter was meant to include a tap and airlock but the lads forgot to include it in the delivery. Fair enough these things happen but I can't use the FV now (hole in the bottom where the tap should be, planned to brew at an open day on Saturday for national homebrew day (October 4th ppl, mark it down!)

A walk in store would have saved the day.

If you are still in Dublin then http://themottlybrew.ie/ are near Glasnevin..

For customer service, the best I have come across is geterbrewed.ie. I have used them a lot lately and will continue to do so.

Hingo

<rant>
Glasnevin is still a bit of a mission for me, I don't drive and I'm based in South Dublin. To be fair, the lads I ordered from replied to my email within 30-40 mins saying they'll have it in the post today to be delivered for Friday,so still some hope!

I haven't had any big or major issues with any of the online guys (in fact I'd really have to say they've been most helpful anytime I email with a query or their products/advice on equipment & setups etc) The missing items this week was the first ever time I've had any issue and I'm satisfied with how it was handled.

In saying that a brick & mortar shop based in Dublin City Centre (or Cork /Galway even) would probably have a decent chance, even with a very small shop front to start off, the shop could still operate online with an online discount of course to keep in line with the rest of the market. IMO it seems to be the right time for something like this too, a lot of spotlight in the media on the "craft beer revolution" recently with some coverage on home brewing too, I know if I wasn't already brewing and I passed by a shop one day on my way to work, I'd be interested in having a browse inside! (easy for me to say this now)

There's also 4 HB clubs based in Dublin alone and another 2/3 in the commuter region, and you can be sure there's a lot of people out there with no club just brewing casually also. Also with a lot of people traveling to City Centre to work these days, I'm sure there's a good market for a well placed walk in shop.
Mybeer&wine used to have a shop in Rathmines which is just outside City centre, they're still online but if they still had a premises I'd be interested to see how their business would do over the next 12 months

Anyway that's my input on the HB Supply shop industry, it's a niche market that's very become competitive in the last 12 months, but I believe if one was to offer a really good unique selling point, with an advantage over the online shops & play their cards right, they could be in a good position. Otherwise you're just another fish in an already small pond
</rant>

drumswan

The Glasnevin shop doesnt sell grain, which I find amazing.

oblivious

drumswan wrote: »

The Glasnevin shop doesnt sell grain, which I find amazing.

I suspect a lot of Homebrew shop owners don't all grain brew.

rubadub

Hingo wrote: »

In saying that a brick & mortar shop based in Dublin City Centre

It doesn't have to be dedicated just to HB either. Any shop could get in a minimal selection which would be good enough for most. I remember Easons in dublin city had it, it seemed weird telling people you bought it in a book shop, but it was well known for it.

Or the health food shops as I mentioned. Or off licences, there is a offie in blackrock which only carries the "Beer Machine kit" and packets to suit it, unfotunately its quite an expensive product (I am not saying the shop is overcharging). You see offies packed with obscure beers that I reckon do not sell particularly well. There is plenty of shelf space for a few kits, its even a talking point about the shop.

I actually sometimes prefer shops with a poor range as its likely to have a bigger turnover. Like if I go to aisian supermarkets some have 6 different jars of garlic paste so there is less turnover of each one so its more likely to be out of date, or at least nearing its BB date.

drumswan

oblivious wrote: »

I suspect a lot of Homebrew shop owners don't all grain brew.

Or extract brew?

If I have to order grain off the internet anyway, why would I go to a bricks and mortar shop for the other stuff?

The Hill Billy

Market research is not permitted in these forums. This forum is for discussing home brewing - not for the provision of data for a business startup. Please use the links already provided for your research.

Best of luck with your venture, but this thread is now being closed.

Edit: Thread re-opened as it has been pointed out to me the value of the discussion. But please note that any further attempts at market research in this thread or the forum in general will be dealt with in accordance with site guidelines - ie, poster will be banned.

tHB