INDUSTRIES

BEVERAGES

What challenge(s) do our clients face?

Against a backdrop of changing consumer demands, established traditional businesses are locked in a battle against new entrants. We are witnessing new sector innovations creating a favorable environment for new entrants to conquer more space leading to a shift in the balance of power.

The market trends and drivers for beverage consumers have been steadily changing in the last decades; for example, the shift towards healthier products and a tendency to look for convenience among different products, occasions and channels. In this new context, to develop sustainable growth companies must identify and understand these new habits considering the particularities from one geography to another. Through our experience, an accurate customer segmentation and Go-to-Market model enables a balance of distribution and in-store execution that are key to creating competitive advantage.

Beyond the change in consumer demands, the beverage industry needs to innovate in the way that it works. From a channel perspective, new requirements are emerging for on premise and off premise channels, as well as new opportunities such as events and the rise of e-commerce making this sector even more competitive. Structuring a channel strategy and optimizing the logistics network is therefore fundamental for improving results.

How do we help?

Integration has conducted more than 250 different projects for the beverage industry in multiple geographies, from local, regional and global perspectives, which has allowed us to develop an in-depth knowledge of the sector. Our experience consists of projects with a huge diversity of challenges in both the non-alcoholic and alcoholic categories.

We are proud of our partnership with one of the leading global players in spirits. We have supported them in over fifty projects, from strategic ones, such as developing route-to-market (RTM) for different countries, to tactical challenges, such as reviewing commercial policies. Our partnership has enabled our client to create competitive advantage by sharing best practices across countries, optimizing sales through different channel approaches.

Our partnership with one of the leading global players in energy drinks also has given us the opportunity to work on more than sixty projects globally in the supply chain and marketing and sales areas, driving brand differentiation and sustainable growth. In the US market, for instance, we designed a complete and comprehensive diagnosis of the business, developing a Go-to-Market strategy which drove significant revenue improvements.

Commonly applied services

We are capable of supporting in all areas of the business, from supply chain to leadership and organization, or in specific scenarios of change such as M&A or market entries. Just a few of the common projects we carry out are below:

Clients

We have worked with clients in different categories, geographies and positions along the value chain:

SUCCESS STORIES

CHALLENGE

The bottler for a leading global non-alcoholic beverage company sought to increase revenues and optimize operational expenses in Brazil.

The two main challenges were to identify:

  • revenue opportunities by mapping “white and grey” areas of the market and improving distributor performance
  • the main cost reduction levers for increasing operational efficiency and therefore profitability

APPROACH

The first step was to truly understand our client’s context, through internal and external analysis. We analyzed the P&L and interviewed their whole leadership team.

We then created a map of all the opportunities on the table and defined the qualitative and quantitative criteria for prioritizing them, supported by financial simulators.

Finally, we structured a Revenue Chain Management (RCM) process to allow our client to continue to take advantage of the methodology used.

RESULT

The project showed how essential revenue management is for increasing revenues. We mapped several key opportunities for revenue management:

  • Captured margins in the value chain by adjusting commercial policies
  • Optimized profitability and revenue per POS by proposing a new mix focus by channel and region
  • Replaced distributors to capture more market share
  • Managed the cooler park and related costs better through a reallocation of these high value fixed assets
  • Optimized trade investments by refocusing them on high potential clients

This delivered an expected increase of over 12% in EBITDA after the full implementation of all initiatives.

CHALLENGE

A leading energy drink company faced increasing market competition due to the aggressive growth of a major competitor in the US.

There were two main challenges:

  • Identify all possible revenue opportunities, not only from a geographical perspective but also from a brand image perspective.
  • Create a “How-to-Win” strategy based on a Go-to-Market approach, in order to develop sustainable, organic growth.

APPROACH

We divided our approach into three main phases:

  1. A deep understanding of the US energy drink market, channel segmentation redesign and restructuring of the sales department. During the first phase we analyzed market data of competitors, consumer and channels, as well as visited more than fifty distributors in order to truly understand the reality and particularities of each channel.
  2. The outputs of this first phase showed us an opportunity to re-segment the channel in order to boost revenues. In order to prioritize all the initiatives mapped with data-driven solutions, we also developed a size of the opportunity simulator to estimate opportunities in terms of numeric distribution, VPO and market share for every region and channel.
  3. Lastly, together with the client we designed a new Go-to-Market for the US, with new service levels, a reshaped distributor network and restructured sales and trade marketing areas.

RESULT

As a result of this project, our client was able to maintain market share and increase revenues.

We helped them not only to manage the right balance between direct and indirect channels for each region, but also identified opportunities in the current (convenience, supermarkets, etc) and alternatives channels (catering, military bases, airport, etc).

At the end of the project, our client had a clear roadmap and visibility of the size of the business opportunity, allowing them to implement a strategy to double the business in 5 years.

CHALLENGE

A leading UK beverage company wanted to enter the Brazilian market due to its size and growth potential.

The challenges were to:

  • Understand the dynamics of the local market which were unknown to the buyer
  • Identify potential red flags in the operational and commercial areas
  • Calculate synergies with the mother company and build the business case for return on investment
  • Prepare the company to be the platform for global brands.

Post-acquisition support was needed for the technical and cultural integration of both companies, as well as for supporting the commercial area to capture the expected results and synergies.

APPROACH

  1. The first step was the development of the business case and investment thesis in order to evaluate the attractiveness of the opportunities on the table. It was important to analyse not only quantitative measures, such as P&L scenarios, but also qualitative measures, such as cultural differences and the strategic case for entry.
  2. After we had defined the assuptions behind the business case, commercial and operational due diligence was the next step. A deep dive into RTM and operating strength were essential to knowing if the acquisition would deliver the expected value.
  3. Once we understood the real added value, the third step was coordinating the post-merger integration, supporting both the technical and cultural fronts. Deep field work, and our hands-on and practical approach were fundamental to maximize the value of the operation

RESULT

We delivered a design for the revised GTM model and an implementation plan to deliver the expected top line results.

We also supported the integration of both companies leading to a successful commercial and cultural integration considering the local capabilities of the acquired company as well as the HQ needs.

TALK TO US

Agustín de Trápaga

Agustín de Trápaga is a senior manager at Integration and has been working since 2019 in the Argentinean office in the Supply Chain Practice. His project expertise is the design of strategic distribution networks and last-mile delivery, the design of conventional and automated distribution centers, and re-engineering of logistics processes in sectors such as beverages, [...]

Augusto Ribeiro

Augusto Ribeiro is a partner at Integration and has been working since 2003 in the Marketing & Sales practice. Augusto built a solid international experience, leading and implementing strategic Marketing & Sales projects in industries ranging from Consumer Goods through Construction & Property Development to the Financial Industry, especially in the Private Equity sector.

Carlos Lima

Carlos Lima is the president of Integration and a founding partner. Carlos has worked with leading international companies across the globe as a consultant for the last 30 years and has developed a particular specialization in Marketing and Sales. He is considered an expert in the Consumer Goods sector and on the topics of Commercial [...]

Francisco Pereira Leite

Francisco Pereira Leite is a partner and has been working within Integration since 1999. An all-rounder, Francisco has moved across our practices, working for the first eight years with focus in Supply Chain and then increasing his scope to the Finance & Management and Implementation areas. His experience over more than 150 projects includes Implementation [...]

Gerard Schoor

Gerard Schoor is a partner at Integration based in Paris, France. He led the Mexico City office from 2008 until 2020. He is currently in charge of Integration’s business development in Europe where we work from offices in Munich and London. His main areas of expertise revolve around supply chain, manufacturing, circular economy, strategic roadmaps, [...]

Gilberto Sarian

Gilberto Sarian is a founding partner at Integration. Over the course of more than 25 years he has led the development of Integration`s award-winning Supply Chain practice, advising international clients across Latin America, Europe and USA. With a background in Engineering, he frequently participates in events and lectures across the world, to discuss latest trends [...]

Hugo Ribeiro

Hugo Ribeiro is a founding partner at Integration and can count on more than 30 years of experience in consulting. Hugo, who holds a post-graduate degree in Business Administration from Harvard University, is a senior specialist in the area of Finance & Management and frequently leads projects in Organizational Structure, Strategic Planning, M&A, Improvement of [...]

Jorge Gomes

Jorge Gomes is a senior director and a highly experienced professional in our Finance & Management practice having joined Integration in 2008. Jorge has travelled to countries around the world in support of our clients, leading projects related to revenue management, strategic planning, M&A and more. He has a well-rounded experience having completed multiple projects [...]

Lucas Castilho

Lucas Castilho is a senior manager on the Supply Chain team at Integration and has been with the company since January 2023. His experience includes planning, supply chain, S&OP and WMS implementations.

Roger Saltiel

Roger Saltiel is a partner at Integration and has been working since 2002 in the Marketing & Sales practice. Considered an authority in the Indirect Channel and Partner Relationship Management (PRM), he is a member of the Associação Brasileira de Atacadistas e Distribuidores (ABAD) [Brazilian Association of Wholesalers and Distributors], working in the leadership of [...]