CH: How popular are alcohol apps? What are their future?
KZ: We can’t speak to the alcohol-delivery apps that handle deliveries to people’s houses, but mobile apps for the industry are just going to get better.
People always talk about how the younger generation coming up is going to usher in more and more tech, but the older generation will resist. We actually found that if your app is simple enough, age isn’t an issue. There are people in their seventies using BlueCart just as happily as young reps in their twenties.
The limiting factor used to be that not everyone had a smartphone. Now, apps like BlueCart work as easily on smartphones as they do on laptops.
CH: How does your app work within the complex network of alcohol laws?
KZ: As a communication service, we don’t buy, sell, deliver, take payment for, or touch alcohol (outside of personal consumption…). We just streamline communication.
CH: What has been the response to BlueCart?
KZ: Overwhelming. In our first month, our goal was to get 16 restaurants on board. We got over a hundred. At a year and a half in, we have over four thousand restaurants and suppliers on the platform. And almost all of this has been word of mouth. We’ve done basically no advertising.
CH: How do wholesalers use it?
For wholesalers, BlueCart is all about driving more business and simplifying the business you already have. BlueCart automatically organizes incoming orders onto one, simple dashboard that managers can break down by sales rep, product, historical ordering patterns, etc.
Sales reps love it because it saves them tons of time spent processing orders, so that they can get out there and make more sales (which should make everyone a lot happier).
Instead of waking up in the morning to a hundred different voicemails or emails, wholesalers simply log on to BlueCart and everything is right there. They can customize prices on an individual client basis, and communication is tied to specific orders or even products, so that fewer sales get returned, and everyone is clear on what’s supposed to be happening.
Kyle Swartz is the associate editor of Cheers Magazine. Reach him at kswartz@epgmediallc.com, or (203) 855-8499, ext. 225.