Distillery plans exports to paradise
A Birmingham distillery is preparing to sell its products online to customers in the UK and Mexico.
Thousand Trades Distillery, an independent small-batch distillery created in 2020, took part in a free, online educational programme for people who want to start a new online business or grow an existing one.
The distillery, run by Phil Warren, is one of over 400,000 businesses in the UK to take part in the Amazon Small Business Accelerator programme.
Following a 20 year career in the food and drinks industry, Warren decided he was tired of sitting at a desk all day.
He found that the process of selling his products online was overwhelming, so attend the small business accelerator to expand his knowledge.
He said: “The Amazon Small Business Accelerator really was an accelerator, it taught me how to market the product and explained more about technical issues such as how to set up barcodes for the products, which made it easier to sell online.”
In addition, Warren also learned more about Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA), which allows businesses to store products in Amazon’s fulfilment centres which are then picked, packed and shipped by Amazon’s delivery network.
“The biggest thing I learned from the Amazon Small Business Accelerator was how to use FBA and Prime. Before I attended the Bootcamp, I was packing things up myself and using a local courier, which made it hard to guarantee the customer next day delivery. After learning more about how to use Prime and FBA at the accelerator, it made our shipping a lot more streamlined.”
Thousand Trades Distillery started with two products, a gin and a vodka, but has now expanded to offer over 40 different drinks. One of the company’s best-selling products is Love Brum Gin, a collaboration with local charity, Love Brum. All profits from the gin go directly to Love Brum, which supports charities and community projects across the city.
