At Your Service: Alcohol On Demand

Eight years ago, Uber was founded and the delivery-on-demand economy was born. Fast forward to 2017 and it’s hard for consumers to imagine the inconvenience of leaving their apartments now that they have unprecedented access to everything from groceries, prepared meals and personal stylists at their fingertips.

The beer, wine and spirits industry has since thrown its proverbial hat in the delivery-on-demand ring with the advent of new mobile apps that bring happy hour to you, at any time and any place.
Competition in the alcohol delivery market has exploded over the last few years; which will continue to make a splash among the many others that fizzle out?

 

Thirstie

Launched: 2013

Delivers To: New York City, Hoboken, Jersey City, New Haven, Norwalk, Washington, D.C., Miami, Chicago, Minneapolis, Austin, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Toronto.

Features: Free 1-hour delivery ($25 min), The Craft, party planning assistance

Why It’s Great: Thirstie is the forefather of the alcohol-on-demand delivery system and, in 2015, it set out to distinguish itself from the ever-growing competition with The Craft – a sleek editorial hub featuring recipes, recommendations and relevant news aimed at keeping consumers engaged even when they’re not making a purchase. Users can also contact them for assistance planning their next event.

Why It’s Not Great: Thirstie currently has a limited delivery area; rollout of additional cities is TBD. Deliveries are only available during business hours of partnering liquor stores, meaning service could shut down by early evening or on Sundays.

 

Minibar

Launched: 2014

Delivers To: New York City, Brooklyn, Hoboken, Jersey City, The Hamptons, Washington D.C., Miami, Palm Beach, Chicago, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Austin, Dallas, Houston, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Denver, Boulder, Los Angeles, Silicon Valley, San Francisco, San Diego, Fremont, Phoenix

Features: Free 1-hour delivery ($25 min), gifting option, party planning assistance

Why It’s Great: The widely recognized delivery service offers the handy Event Planner feature, which allows users to calculate how much alcohol to purchase based on the amount of guests and the desired wine to beer and spirits ratio. There’s also a unique feature that enables the host to book a professional bartender (24 hour notice required) to service the event so they can be free to enjoy the party with their guests.

Why It’s Not Great: Minibar currently has a limited delivery area; rollout of additional cities is TBD. Deliveries are only available during business hours of partnering liquor stores.

 

Amazon Prime Now

Launched: 2015

Delivers To: NYC, Chicago, San Diego and Seattle (alcohol)

Features: Free 2-hour delivery ($35 min)

Why It’s Great: The trusted e-commerce giant now offers a variety of conveniences to Prime members on demand: alcohol, meal delivery and everyday home goods, to name a few. In typical Amazon fashion, prices are marked at a few dollars less than its counterparts, giving busy customers the opportunity to stock up on all of their needs at once, while saving time and money.

Why It’s Not Great: As the name suggests, Prime Now is available exclusively to Prime members ($99/yr.) The 2-hour free delivery window is standard, and customers in a crunch would have to shell out an additional $7.99 to request a 1-hour delivery (available in select cities.) While Prime Now boasts a large network of 27 participating cities, NYC, Chicago, San Diego and Seattle are currently the only cities accepting alcohol orders; rollout of additional cities is TBD. Deliveries are only available during business hours of partnering liquor stores.

 

Klink

Launched: 2015

Delivers To: Washington D.C., Miami, Orlando (University of Central Florida area), Ann Arbor (University of Michigan area)

Features: 1-hour delivery ($20 min), curated collections

Why It’s Great: As with any traditional brick and mortar store, consumers can easily find themselves overwhelmed by options offered by alcohol delivery-on-demand services if they are unsure of what they are looking for. Klink has strategically tapped into this niche with their specially curated collections. Each collection – broken out by type of function (i.e. pool party, black tie) or meal (i.e. Italian, BBQ) – conveniently recommends complementary wines and spirits, and the user-friendly interface allows for a quick and seamless purchase.

Why It’s Not Great: Klink currently has a very limited delivery area; rollout of additional cities is TBD. Unlike competitors, the service charges a small delivery fee ($3.87 or less) for each order. Deliveries are only available during business hours of partnering liquor stores.