Brau Holding International (Paulaner Brewery), the strongest association of regional breweries and one of the largest brewery groups in Germany, has made some adjustments and adapted its structure, organization, and strategy to the market conditions.
Changes to the distribution structure that the group consistently implemented in the past year help BHI in intensifying its efforts in terms of the distribution channel trade and moving closer together within the brewery group.
Brau Holding International is increasingly controlling sales and purchases. “The restructuring of our domestic distribution was an especially far-reaching step. Since then, the brands Paulaner, Hacker-Pschorr, F?rstenberg, Riegeler and Thurn und Taxis have been marketed in trade by a joint distribution organization,” says Roland Tobias. “We also created twofold structures in restaurant distributions.
This has made our market approach more effective and efficient.” A central goal of the Munich group is to increase the consumer frequency per brand with the help of the new distribution structure. Key account management is now also able to offer the dealers a wide brand portfolio.
The signs for the overall brewery market are not rosy, meaning that the pressure to consolidate will probably continue in 2011. Only large, economically strong breweries will be able to weather the reserved domestic consumption behavior in conjunction with long-term price wars in trade. Smaller breweries that cannot count on cushioning by association will have a hard time securing significant regional or national shares with regional products.
BHI on the other hand is well prepared as a large association thanks to its strategic concept and will initially focus on itself by strengthening its own brands. “We do not preclude the possibility of acquisitions, but our focus will be on the development of our current brands. Our portfolio offers sufficient potential for market share gains,” says Tobias.
While the beer market and its sales are stagnating at home, BHI is looking towards export, especially with its top brand Paulaner. The ambitious goal is to double exports by the year 2015. Roland Tobias explains: “The most important foreign markets for Paulaner are Italy, the U.S. and France. Asia is also becoming more and more important. Overall, we export to more than 60 countries. Up to now, exports made up about one quarter of the turnover of the Paulaner Brewery Group.
The trend is clearly rising.” The stage is set for further expansion and work on its implementation has begun. In order to establish oneself amongst an international target market and make sensible investments, one should leave nothing to chance. A strategic international marketing scheme is currently being created in order to be able to address international market demands. This requires on-site representation. “Our team in Munich, our subsidiaries in Italy and the U.S., our on-site employees and numerous international partners create a good starting point in order for us to realize our growth objectives.”