Publix, “The Big 3” and Free Goods in Florida.
February 22, 2011
If you are not in the wine industry, you may want to switch off because this article (more of a ramble really) will probably bore you to death. You have been warned.
If you’re in Florida and working in the beverage industry, you’ll know that there has been a little shake-up with regards to grocery store chain Publix and “The Big Three”; namely wine distributors SWS, Premier and RNDC.
From what I can assert, Publix have demanded that the three largest beverage distributors in Florida stop offering wine free-good deals to both on and off premise accounts. The discounts will instead be somehow built into BTG programs, and I’m guessing some kind of tiered pricing.
I have heard a couple of stories as to why Publix made this move, but nothing confirmed and nothing that I am willing to put into print. After doing some digging I have yet to come up with any news on this story. Maybe there’s a good reason for that, maybe this isn’t news at all? Let me say that I have a number of very good friends working for all three of these companies, and I’m not trying to start pointing any fingers here. I genuinely think it’s an interesting move, and that it’s even more interesting that nothing has been written about it.
My questions are:
– Does Publix really have that much power that they can demand such a move State-wide? What if SWS, Premier and RNDC has said no?
– Will this give the smaller distributors more power of negotiation over the big boys?
– Surely there will be a big impact on other retailers in Florida, such as Total Wine and Costco?
Not that I expect a huge (if any) response on this, but if you have any thoughts feel free to chime in. Your comments can of course be kept anonymous.
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