In the beverage alcohol industry, momentum can disappear overnight. A product that was flying off shelves on Friday can be sitting in a warehouse by Monday. A single stock out of a high-volume product can mean thousands of dollars in lost sales and lost market share before anyone even realizes there’s a problem.
For Windsor, Ontario-based Bill Davidson and Jim Kiss, that lag between what’s happening in store and what suppliers can see captures the philosophy behind Spirits Wine Information Group (SWIG): take complex liquor board data and turn it into information suppliers can actually use, fast.
SWIG was established in 2008, initially to offer technical support for the Association of Canadian Distillers (ACD). At that time, the ACD managed provincial liquor board sales data and provided hard copy sales reports to its members. However, the timing was consistently a challenge. Davidson says reports were arriving long after they were useful. “You’d have access to the books a month after the period had ended,” he said.
From reports to real-time data
SWIG’s first major project was to put those reports online and significantly reduce the turnaround time, often releasing information within a day or two. The impact was immediate. Although the ACD work was essential, another issue was present: inventory data existed, but it wasn’t reaching the sales representatives and logistics team who needed it most in a way that supported everyday decision-making.
SWIG Alerts, the company’s flagship product, was initially built in 2011 to deliver inventory and product status alerts directly to sales reps. It has evolved into a cloud-based platform that encompasses inventory and sales data across multiple boards, including the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO), SAQ and The Beer Store, to name a few.
The alerts are customized around each business and delivered at the product-store level. Inventory alerts, product listing changes, stagnant inventory notifications and Top 20 stock out instances all surface automatically. Behind the scenes, SWIG recalculates days of supply for each product at each store every day and even forecasts days of supply at LCBO warehouses. For companies with large portfolios, that filtering is crucial.
If it’s not on the shelf, you can’t sell it.
Bill Davidson, Spirits Wine Information Group
“Because companies with large portfolios can be inundated with data, daily alerts let them focus on the highest priority issues,” said Kiss. In Ontario, for example, the LCBO provides inventory quantities at more than 600 stores across the province daily. Agents can access their own data, but raw data alone doesn’t solve problems. “Agents can see which stores or warehouses are stocked out each morning,” said Kiss. “Almost as important, they can see which stores are low in inventory and approaching a stock out. They can take action to prevent a stock out.”
For producers who may not consider themselves data experts, SWIG keeps it simple. Clients can log in from a desktop, download the SWIG mobile app or simply rely on email, which is still one of the most popular channels.
“Every morning, after we load inventory, we send emails to our users, basically saying, ‘Here are your inventory alerts for the day,’” said Kiss. “By 6 a.m., many sales reps already know where they need to focus.”
Quantifying the cost of empty shelves
The real-world implications are tangible. For example, during the explosive growth of cider several years ago, one client found itself shipping pallets of product to stores to keep up with demand. “There was no bigger issue than keeping that product on the shelves. An empty shelf meant lost sales and lost market share,” said Kiss.
However, despite daily monitoring and co-ordination, stock outs still occurred. Using SWIG’s Stock Out Impact report, the company quantified lost unit and dollar sales by store. Armed with that data, senior management escalated the issue to the liquor board. The board agreed to increase order minimums, reducing stock outs and recovering lost sales.
As the Canadian market shifts, that kind of agility is critical. The ready-to-drink category continues to grow, appealing to younger consumers. At the same time, “people are drinking less and as a result, competition is a lot tougher,” Davidson says.
Non-alcoholic and lower-alcohol products are gaining traction. Further, recent trade changes have altered shelf mixes in many provinces, prompting more Canadians to purchase Canadian-made products. In that environment, access to real-time information strengthens the relationship between suppliers and boards. “Information is now at suppliers’ and agents’ fingertips, allowing better communication between them and the boards,” Davidson said.
“Our systems often tell clients more about their businesses than liquor board systems can provide,” Kiss said. “We deliver the most current data in business-friendly formats, on multiple platforms, using intuitive tools. We now have solutions that work with liquor boards in Quebec, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. In the coming months we will be launching a system for the B.C. market.”
The company is also exploring the use of AI. “AI has tremendous potential…. We are looking for ways in which it will benefit our clients and grow the business,” Kiss said.
As it expands, SWIG’s value proposition remains grounded: data is only powerful if it’s timely and actionable. With tighter margins, shifting consumer behaviour and increased competition, blind spots are expensive. The difference between a strong quarter and a missed target can come down to something as simple as whether a product was available when a customer reached for it.
For Davidson, the principle hasn’t changed since Day 1. “If it’s not on the shelf, you can’t sell it,” he said.
