City Hive, the largest e-commerce provider for beverage alcohol retailers announced Parallel 36 as its agency of record to oversee media communications targeted to key wine, beer and liquor merchants, suppliers and distributors. The omni-channel digital commerce and data platform used by more than 2,000 beverage alcohol retailers in over 700 cities across the U.S. saw online sales grow 1100% and increased its retail footprint by over 80% between March 2020 and May 2020 and processed over $400M in online alcohol sales for the year.
From mom and pop shops, to fine wine merchants and top regional wine and spirits retail chains around the country, City Hive provides top of the line technology for e-commerce websites, mobile apps and digital marketing. Smarter and faster than any other solution for beverage alcohol etail, City Hive sites instantly provide rich product content and imagery dynamically updated by suppliers, can be deployed in as little as 10 minutes and are up to 6 times faster than standard web platforms. Thousands of brands of all sizes also use City Hive to maintain product integrity across its merchant network, gain valuable insights on product sales and distribution, and streamline promotional content to the trade and consumers.
“City Hive’s mission has been to put control back into retailers’ hands and support healthy growth of independent businesses,” City Hive CEO, Roi Kliper says. “Digital has become essential for independent businesses to remain strong and competitive. We believe the key to long-term success for businesses is to own their customer relationships and have the right tools in place for their staff to scale new sales avenues and grow their customer base.”
“With City Hive’s support during the Covid-19 health crisis, we were able to smoothly transition all in-store transactions to curbside pickup and local delivery orders placed through our mobile app and website without sacrificing the high-quality guest experience for which our stores are known,” said Gary Fisch, CEO and Founder of Gary’s Wine & Marketplace. “We are now managing over 200+ deliveries per day. With a technology partner like City Hive, we feel well-equipped to handle any changes that occur in the industry now and for years to come.”
When Super Buy Rite Liquors in Jersey City, NJ partnered with City Hive, the Buyrite franchisees saw online sales outpace in-store growth. “Today, e-commerce is an essential part of day-to-day operations with customers ordering for local delivery, in-store pickup and, as of Spring 2020, curbside pickup” observed Adithya Bathena, owner of Super Buy Rite Liquors and CEO of the Buyrite Liquor franchise. “City Hive allows each franchise to save time by managing online sales and digital marketing from a single interface and leverage anonymous purchasing data to evaluate and share trends among franchisees.”
“City Hive’s technology has allowed Liquor Barn & Party Mart to rapidly react to the changing regulatory landscape, as well as to accommodate the needs of our customers by providing a variety of digital shopping solutions – curbside, pickup and home delivery – all of which allow for contactless transfer of the products from the stores to the customer,” says Edward H. Harrison III, Director of Liquor Barn & Party Mart in Kentucky. “These digital features have been very well received by both our customers and staff as they increase the efficiency in ordering and procuring the products as well as improving the safety of staff and customers alike.”
City Hive’s platform is tailored to the liquor industry and offers a single platform for store owners to manage all of their digital needs, including:
- Product inventory
- Pricing strategy
- CRM and customer analytics
- Order fulfillment and “pick and pack”
- Mobile and email marketing communications
- Sales and loyalty programs
- Curbside and local delivery
- Fraud protection
- Club subscriptions
- Driver tracking
“E-commerce is a way of life today and for the foreseeable future,” Kliper continues. “We believe every business should have effective tools at their disposal to digitally transform their business with online ordering, inventory management, CRM and marketing capabilities integrated into a single comprehensive, easy-to-use platform. As the landscape for online purchasing becomes more prominent, one must ask, are we building relationships or just fulfilling orders?”
