Mobile software startup brings doorstep alcohol delivery to MetroWest
Boston-based mobile software company Drizly is working hard to make doorstep alcohol delivery the latest convenience for consumers living in a push-button world, and the MetroWest suburbs are its latest frontier.
The startup offers its mobile app to retail liquor stores in four major cities, including Chicago, New York City (plus the Hamptons) and Los Angeles. But bringing the services to MetroWest towns that include Natick and Wayland, to start, will test the viability of the Drizly app on suburbanites, a departure from the urban dwellers Drizly has catered to since launching last year.
Catering to the affluent, tech-savvy
Mike DiLorenzo, senior vice president of marketing, is confident that expanding into the affluent edges of MetroWest is a winning venture. The idea is that area residents are both professionals, and parents, who are too busy to shop, and would rather have alcohol delivered for cocktail parties and other events. Another target market includes businesses that host workplace events.
“They’re willing to spend more, “DiLorenzo said. “Obviously it’s a tech-savvy consumer.”
The Drizly app is downloaded by consumers from the iTunes store, or Google Play, and allows users within the delivery area of Drizly’s retail liquor store partners to order libations of any sort from the nearest Drizly affiliate.
DiLorenzo is careful to point out that Drizly does not sell alcohol itself. It simply handles the transaction, including payment and verification of the buyer’s ID.
“We are more like a very modern fax machine,” DiLorenzo said.
The company also handles marketing to consumers, a boon for retail partners. But the ID verification is perhaps the most important feature for liquor stores working with Drizly. While some liquor stores deliver alcohol without help from a third party, it’s a low-profile service. DiLorenzo said that’s because liquor store owners find it risky to handle transactions over the phone because it’s more difficult to ensure alcohol is being sold to someone of legal age. Drizly invested in intellectual property to create a forensic identification system that’s virtually foolproof, according to DiLorenzo, and unrivaled by competitors.
Natick retailer first Drizly partner in MetroWest
With this type of technology available, it may be just a matter of time before Drizly’s service, and those of competitors, crop up everywhere. But for now, just one MetroWest liquor store, Nine East Wine Emporium in Natick, has partnered with Drizly in the suburbs.
Nine East owner Austin Moran said he made a deal with Drizly that grants him exclusive rights to deliver to customers in Wellesley, Weston, Wayland and Natick, though the territory could change in the future, depending on how many other area stores end up doing business with Drizly.
Moran said he heard about the company through a news article, and was eager to sign on early and gain an edge in the liquor delivery business. He’s offered the service for years, but Moran said filling orders through the Drizzly app – which typically net a higher dollar amount than the average in-store sale – will take that piece of the business to new heights, especially given the high median incomes of the towns Nine East caters to.
“We’re not going to the college crowd like some of the stores in Boston area, so we’re going to have a much higher (price range) because of the affluence here,” Moran said.
Image source: Freedigitalphotos.net
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