Budweiser, the beer brand owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev, is doubling down on e-commerce as it responds to growing consumer demand through this channel.

Steve Arkley, vp/global marketing for Budweiser, discussed this subject in a session on Lions Live, a digital-content platform run by Cannes Lions, a sister company of WARC.

“With the fact that people are at home,” Arkley reported, “we’re seeing an acceleration in e-commerce … and we’re looking for ways in which we can utilize technology to make it easier for people to get our products.” (A full video of Arkley’s interview is available here. WARC subscribers can read a summary here.)

Elaborating on this topic, Arkley suggested that it is critical for the brewing group to tap into the opportunity presented by digital commerce.

“The world of e-commerce has been important for us as a business, and we want to pioneer new ways to drive engagement with our consumers to make it more convenient for them to buy our products,” he said.

Such a description holds true for AB InBev’s own digital-ordering platforms – like Zé Delivery in Brazil, Beer Hawk in the UK, and Saveur Bière in France – and for partners, such as Meituan and Ele.me in China, that offer home delivery.

“The unprecedented circumstances we find ourselves in” with the COVID-19 crisis were not the anticipated proving ground for such offerings, but the trial by fire has generated “a huge increase” in demand, Arkley reported.

A case in point: over the course of one month, the Zé Delivery service in Brazil delivered “the same amount of orders that we would [usually] receive in one year. So, that's the degree of evolution that we’re experiencing.”

The advent of new points of connection, Arkley continued, “allows us to establish relationships with customers” who shop for beer online.

“We’re now analysing that data, making sure that we evolve our proposition, and are learning from new consumers who are coming into the category via e-commerce,” he said.

“We are making sure that what we provide to them is appropriate and meets their needs for the different occasions of in-home consumption.”


Sourced from WARC