ABI to lay off hundreds of employees in their High End division

[mjohnson171]

http://mybeerbuzz.blogspot.com/2017/09/anheuser-busch-laying-off-hundreds-of.html?spref=tw&m=1

Discuss.

 

[dbannister]

So basically they are letting go of all of the sales reps from the craft breweries they purchased ... because they know how to sell "high end beer" better than them?

 

[tikk]

Bwahahahahaha and so it begins. Someone tag that good beer hunter guy that probably doesn't even log in here anymore.

 

[ewwiccc]

Bwahahahahaha and so it begins. Someone tag that good beer hunter guy that probably doesn't even log in here anymore.

goodbeerhunting ?

 

[tikk]

goodbeerhunting ?

Yeah that's the guy. Too lazy to try.

 

[Lutter]

It sounds to me like they're done acquiring right now and are rolling sales into their Budweiser sales reps.

I don't see how this is a surprise.

 

[JulianB1]

Some rare useful information on BA (posted by a former High End employee who had been laid off in an earlier round of cuts):

"The wholesalers were never really on board with the program. They couldn't figure out why they needed 4-5 points of contact to call on a single given account (Wholesaler rep, Brewery rep, High End Rep, High End State Manager). High End teams were never given a real strategy other than: Push Shock Top, push Stella, ignore the "easy to sell" craft that we acquired because there were brewery reps for that."

 

[Death Valley]

Some rare useful information on BA (posted by a former High End employee who had been laid off in an earlier round of cuts):

"The wholesalers were never really on board with the program. They couldn't figure out why they needed 4-5 points of contact to call on a single given account (Wholesaler rep, Brewery rep, High End Rep, High End State Manager). High End teams were never given a real strategy other than: Push Shock Top, push Stella, ignore the "easy to sell" craft that we acquired because there were brewery reps for that."

Shock Top and Stella are high end?

 

[Max]

Shock Top and Stella are high end?

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzingggg

 

[daniel1]

Bwahahahahaha and so it begins. Someone tag that good beer hunter guy that probably doesn't even log in here anymore.

DING DING DING

goodbeerhunting was last seen: Jun 3, 2017

 

[SammyJaxxx]

Shock Top and Stella are high end?

Bud Light is high end. Shock Top and Stella are super premium high end
The purchasing of craft has everything to do with AB/InBev protecting Bud Light's, status as High End
http://goodbeerhunting.com/blog/2017/5/5/watch-the-hands-not-the-cards-the-magic-of-megabrew

 

[cosmicevan]

Bud Light is high end. Shock Top and Stella are super premium high end
The purchasing of craft has everything to do with AB/InBev protecting Bud Light's, status as High End
http://goodbeerhunting.com/blog/2017/5/5/watch-the-hands-not-the-cards-the-magic-of-megabrew

wow...what a fantastic read! as a constant student of business and strategy that post/article was spot on from a corporate perspective. we often miss the big picture of this all and it reminds me of what was written on the chalkboard of one of my business mgmt classes for the entire semester in college - "the number one focus of all publicly traded business is shareholder equity." found this snippet to be fairly profound...

Price matters because as consumers have grown accustomed to seeing $10+/ six packs of craft beer on the shelf at their local retail outlet, the $7/six pack of AB’s “premium” beer risks becoming “cheap” or “discount.” When a brand moves in a consumer’s mind from premium to discount, there is an erosion of brand equity, which leads to an erosion in brand value, which could lead to a real loss on the bottom line for a publicly traded company. Unfortunately for AB, they cannot simply increase their price to close the gap. Their consumer base is highly price sensitive, and as they fight for the massive volume represented by this mass market consumer base, and try to compete with MillerCoors, they cannot risk the volume loss associated with a price increase. Therefore, they are stuck, sitting at the lower price, watching their brand equity erode as craft grows. If that happens long enough, you guessed it — they could face an impairment charge (still talking billions).

thanks for sharing that

 

[sacrelicio]

It sounds to me like they're done acquiring right now and are rolling sales into their Budweiser sales reps.

I don't see how this is a surprise.

It's not.