Page 14 - Chase Case Study

From March 2011 - Chase Vodka – the only English potato

vodka – would be distributed through 280 Sainsbury’s
outlets this came on the back of an agreed deal with

Waitrose to sell the product in all of its 230-plus stores, up

from 80 initially.

In its first year, sales reached £140,000.

2010 - Two years on and the distillery was turning out 3,000

bottles each week and forecasting £1m in turnover.

2011 - By July 2011 the distillery was shipping 5,000 bottles a

week at up to £38 each. The plan was to increased output to

more than 6,000(£38 per bottle) bottles, taking turnover up
to £3m.

Where Chase could produce about 5,000 bottles a week
Smirnoff produce about five million. Competition therefore

was not going to be on bulk sales or price but rather on

differentiation, an artisan product.

Each bottle costs £18 to produce but this does not

necessarily translate into a healthy profit margin.

Chase commented:

"There are five people between us and the retailer, and each of

them takes their cut, the profits get sucked out. After [the first

three] hard years we're only turning over £2m-£3m a year,
we're just about to start breaking even and are targeting a 10%

profit margin this year.”

The drinks industry has made it very difficult for new brands

to find their way behind nightclub bars and on to