What's your favorite brand of drink, beer or soft drink?

The whole thing about drinks is beginning to make sense to me. Do you remember I said Ernest works with the Nigerian Breweries? Yes, watching him work with data concerning drinks, shipping, deliveries, and sales outlets made me remember my mom's shop when I was much younger.

Would you tell if an outlet sells beers by guessing?

I remember we usually sold varieties of drinks, both beers and soft-drinks. When Ernest points to an outlet and says, this particular person is likely to sell only soft drinks and gets it wrong when he visits the outlet, I often laugh.

I know he would have gotten it wrong with my mom's shop too. My mom's name will make him feel she wouldn't dare sell beers probably as a result of religious beliefs. He would be both right and wrong. My grandmother was always against my mum selling alcoholic drinks in her outlet, because of the belief she had. Mum never heeded because it was business, and the majority of folks who lived around were men who loved drinking beer every night.

I watched as dad attends to them most evenings when he is off work early. The guys are always in a good mood. The order not just bottles of beers, they order in crates, from one crate to two, and then two and a half. They usually drank these drinks with meat, fish, pepper, oil, and salt. I often wondered what makes it so sweet and interesting to them.

At the table, they discuss everything, politics, football, family, work, flirtatious escapades, etc. They make jokes out of everything and everyone. It was the life I was born into. Sales. Customers. Customer satisfaction. Mum took the last part seriously, and it was reflected in the products she sold and the ones she didn't, no matter how convincing a sales representative is.

On the issue of drinks, I am sitting here remembering how Ernest gets most of the outlet's products wrong by just going by the names of the store owners. No one would see mum and figure she sells alcoholic drinks, you will swear she doesn't. This is why direct contact with outlets is important for a business that involves day-to-day consumption. The outlets are the closest to these business's group of customers.

Is the Depot System good for business?

The second thing that got me thinking was the depot system that was introduced in the brewery.

There was a time I used to bake for commercial purposes, and I always wondered what I would do if I wanted to expand my business, and move it to other cities and states. Initially, I thought of how those who delivered bread and confectionaries to mum always traveled long distances to make supplies. Most days they are early, other days they are late. This places mum on the defensive because if they show up late, we might as well lose customers in the morning. I am talking about mothers or fathers who have to prepare breakfast with bread for their children before heading to school or work. If we lack supplies because those bread vendors are late, we watch a disappointed mother or father. And then we lose money too.

For this reason, I kept cracking my brain to determine what I would do if I had a company that promote food. Would I make sure that the transportation system is available and in place? Would I go to that city and open a new branch? What if the money isn't enough to open new branches? Would I wait around until the future? Would I risk losing customers as a result of a lack of funds?

Don't blame me yet, I was still a child and inexperienced, so I had no idea there is something called loans and venture capitalist. I didn't know you can walk into the bank with your business plan, with the right collateral, receive loans and grants to expand your business. I had no idea you can get people sitting at a round table to listen to you to pitch your business idea and if they are smitten they give you their money to go ahead in exchange for a fee, percentages, and what have you.

It was a little child's mind trying to solve the problem of mum losing money, customer's Trust, and concerns.
Nigerian Breweries' products Now, Nigerian Breweries tried to bridge the gaps I was fearful about by having a depot system. These warehouses are created to house products to take care of the distance between the brewery and distributors. Through this method, the products are readily available to distributors and in turn to outlets like my mum's own.

Through my story, you can decipher that mum was running both an on-trade and off-trade kind of retailing. Dad built spots for sit-out with chairs and tables to encourage customers to sit and talk over a bottle of beer. And she also had the provision store where she sold other products and daily consumables. I love being in the shop more than anything in the world. The lessons gained from the daily experience of dealing with customers were mind-blowing and fun.

Wait, where were we?

Has technology changed the way drinks are bought and sold?

Yes, definitely, of course.

On creating orders, I noticed Ernest does this frequently by the end of the day. He sends in receipt through the company's app, the data will consist of the names of the outlets, the locations, the different drinks needed, the numbers, the prices in total, and the dates to be delivered. I was amazed by how technology has changed the way business is done.

In my mom's time, we didn't have Apps like that. I remember a man who always comes to mum's store, to supply her drinks. Mum always makes accounts and makes provision for funds to be available before he arrives. We just needed to check the refrigerator for the number of drinks left and the number of empty crates, then she makes a list. Now, she understood customers' buying demands, needs, and impulses, so she could predict which drink is likely to finish soon and put it on the list. Most times, she forgets and the drinks get finished and she had to call the distributor in person, he delivers it before the end of the day or early the next morning.

Technology changed how mum would be placing orders now if she was still in business. All she would have needed to do would be to log into the app, place her order, and the company takes care of the rest. In those instances she forgot to add certain drinks manually in the past and resorts to calling is averted, because she would only need to log in again, and place another order or add to the already existing receipts. Isn't that amazing? Gosh, I miss doing this kind of business.

Wait, I have something else I want to share before I end. There is this superstore I love visiting because they have cold Pepsi (my favorite drink... Hehehehe). I remember one day I was there, and someone walked in and began to give the owner the new prices of drinks. I watched and listened attentively and I was pleased. This guy gave the shop owner price updates so he can make better sales decisions. You know if he isn't updated he will keep selling those drinks with the old price and when the drinks are finished, going back to buy becomes a problem. Of course, he already ran into losses because the price he was selling at was an old Price, and then he didn't cater for the plummet in price a few days after. Is this part of their job description? Is it a fair advantage? I don't know, I'll ask Ernest the next time I meet him.

By the way, Christmas is the period we sold the most drinks. Celebrations here and there, customers floating in and out of my mum's store. Mum sending in new orders more than the previous months. The highest bought drink then was Malta Guinness, both can and bottle. The spike in consumption brought us a lot of profits. On Christmas day, mum made sure the shop is open, and people just kept buying and buying and buying. We gave them the pleasure of making sure the drinks are available in the desired numbers and it's very chill... Smiles. Everyone goes home happy.

There are lots of things, stories, and experiences I have about drinks, sales, buying decisions, etc. I know you yours too, I'll be pleased to read about them in the comment box. Thanks for reading. Happy new month.