Real Drinks Group is a drinks retailer which supplies drinks to retailers and directly to consumers, manages sales and creates new drinks. As the company continued to grow, it needs a solution to transform its operations and further prepare if for growth. It chose Oracle NetSuite, which supports critical functions such as accounting, financials, order entry, purchasing, invoicing and inventory management across two legal entities. Zeph King, COO, Real Drinks Group, discusses the transformative effect it has had on the business.
Real Drinks Group began life as an independent craft drinks retailer in 2005, founded by Nick Dolan. In the years since, Real Drinks Group has grown to offer comprehensive end-to-end solutions across the drinks industry, but one thing hasn’t changed: a love for drinks – curating them, tasting them, sharing them – even packaging them.
Whether it’s sourcing the best products for retail partners, helping producers connect with new opportunities or delivering exciting new flavours to customers, Real Drinks Group has built its success on passion and expertise.
With headquarters in Twickenham, offices in Birmingham and a taproom in London’s Maida Vale, Real Drinks Group has become a key player in the UK’s beverage industry. Its acquisition of Beer Britannia in 2022 further strengthened its position and broadened its supply chain network. Despite its growth, the company remains rooted in its commitment to building lasting partnerships through tailored solutions and a genuine love for what they do.
But with impressive growth comes operational challenges that demand modern solutions. By implementing Oracle NetSuite, Real Drinks Group looked to transform its business operations and prepare itself for future growth.
Adapting to operational complexity and growth
For Zeph King, COO and a 15-year veteran of Real Drinks Group, the company’s success hinges on its ability to scale efficiently. With over 1,000 stock keeping units (SKUs) and a growing network of employees and partners, the business operates an end-to-end supply chain process – from sourcing and warehousing to distribution and invoicing. However, Real Drinks Group was relying on a patchwork of spreadsheets to manage its operations.
“These systems were perfectly appropriate for the scale of the business when we started,” said King. “But as we grew, managing the process became prohibitive – we had to consider hiring new people just to manage those processes every time the business grew. We needed a system that allowed us to scale while retaining the same number of staff.”
Streamlining operations with NetSuite
Real Drinks Group considered several ERP systems but ultimately chose NetSuite for its flexibility and growth potential.
NetSuite’s implementation has proven transformative for Real Drinks Group. The system now supports critical functions such as accounting, financials, order entry, purchasing, invoicing and inventory management across two legal entities. Using NetSuite’s OneWorld, the company can manage multiple subsidiaries seamlessly, developing standardised business processes and deploying them across the entire organisation at the click of a button.
Key customisations, such as scripting to manage parent-child relationships between inventory items, have enabled Real Drinks Group to align NetSuite’s capabilities with its unique business model. Products are logged on to the system first as a ‘parent’ item and upon customer order, they are transformed into ‘child’ items under the Real Drinks and Beer Britannia relevant supply routes. This ensures that every order’s journey is meticulously tracked, from the moment it enters Real Drinks Group’s supply chain to when it reaches the retailer.
Time savings and operational efficiency
The benefits of NetSuite were evident almost immediately. “Purely from a user perspective, we were seeing time savings of 80% or more within a week” King noted.
The efficiency gains have also reduced the need for additional hires within the supply chain team to manage growth. “The growth potential was one of the important reasons for having NetSuite,” King added. “Currently, we don’t need to invest in additional staff in our back office team because we’ve got a system that supports scaling. I can already see where that’s delivering value.”
Strengthening supply chain and customer relationships
The key to Real Drinks Group’s success is long-term partnerships built on decades of trust and transparency, combined with out of the box solutions designed for sustained growth, allowing the company to effectively manage its supply chain. By partnering with trusted businesses, such as NetSuite, Real Drinks Group has streamlined order processing and ensured accurate invoicing, helping the company to bolster its relationships with suppliers and customers alike. Enhanced reporting through localisation further supports transparency and decision-making.
Planning for the future
Real Drinks Group has just started the next phase of the integration which involves implementing demand planning and material requirements planning (MRP) in its NetSuite environment. As King summarized: “NetSuite has given us the tools to handle our current operations while preparing for future growth. We are now operating our business from a position of maintaining and managing our data all in one place, with NetSuite connecting thousands of data points for us, so that we have greater insight into our day-to-day business at the touch of a button. The reports we are already creating benefit the whole business, from finance and operations to our commercial team. It’s not just about where we are now but where we’re heading as a business.”
By transitioning from manual processes to NetSuite, Real Drinks Group has laid the groundwork for sustained growth and operational excellence. With improved efficiency, enhanced scalability and better control over its supply chain, the company is well-positioned to continue serving its customers and navigating the evolving demands of the beverage industry.
