The questions independent drinks founders ask most — answered. Distilled from years of community knowledge so the good stuff never disappears in the feed again.
Members see the strategic appeal of a "Farfetch of booze" cooperative model—aggregating indie brands into a central destination to bypass margin-heavy wholesalers—but the community's lived experience suggests significant execution barriers. **Why the idea appeals:** - Cuts out expensive wholesaler markups (vs. the traditional 12%+ commission model) - Single-purchase convenience for customers buying multiple indie brands - Potential to serve both D2C and B2B wholesale channels simultaneously - Comparison: **Eebria** operates a similar dropship model (mostly beer, ~12% commission); **Whiskey Exchange** was approached about hosting an "indie space" but declined, suggesting consumer confusion over the indie positioning **The hard reality members encountered:** - A previous Kindred project (mothballed post-COVID) and **Lassou** both failed to generate meaningful sales despite technical execution and email/social campaigns - **DrinksOne.com** is attempting something similar with wholesale focus (£100 minimum order) but hasn't yet proven D2C viability at scale - Member consensus: the landscape has fundamentally shifted since the COVID e-commerce boom; even major brands with multi-million budgets now struggle with D2C acquisition - **Cost per conversion** is the core blocker—digital marketing spend needed for scale is prohibitively expensive and rarely profitable - Conflicts with members' own DTC channels, diluting individual brand marketing ROI **What *would* change the equation:** - Centralised fulfillment infrastructure (not dropship) - Shared bonded storage, blending, bottling/canning capabilities - Significantly higher marketing budget than previous attempts - A dedicated, well-resourced operator to manage it full-time **Bottom line:** Structural merit exists, but execution requires both capital and specialised retail/marketing expertise. Members warn against underestimating the cost and complexity.