Sellar to launch the most compelling credit product the craft drinks industry has ever seen.
Craft breweries and drinks producers often struggle to get paid on time, if at all. Sellar Credit will mean craft drinks producers get paid on time, every time.
Sellar Credit will create a world where craft breweries and drinks producers can get paid in full, on dispatch, for every order; while also offering their customers generous credit payment terms in one consolidated invoice. Both sides of the craft drinks industry, a cash-strapped industry, will be able to experience the benefits of having better cash flow.
Sellar Credit is a Buy Now Pay Later payment option that gives trade customers up to 60 day payment terms, with over 250 craft drinks suppliers, paid in one consolidated invoice. Plus, Sellar Credit guarantees on-time payment upon dispatch to producers.
Julian Bourne, CEO of Sellar said: “Since we started Sellar back in 2019, breweries have always told us about the pain point of getting paid on time, sometimes if at all. Payments in the craft drinks industry were already broken, then when Covid hit, hospitality experienced a cash-crisis. A challenge our industry is still facing.
Since Covid, many breweries stopped offering credit terms or significantly shortened the leash on the terms they offered. On Sellar, 60 per cent of buyers are on pro-forma terms, meaning they need to pay up front, and of those that get credit terms, two thirds of these agreements are less than 30 days.
From Sellar’s buyer research they learnt that getting credit terms for buyers is extremely important in making their buying decisions and managing cash flow.
84 per cent of of trade buyers who use Sellar said they would be more likely to order from a supplier that offers at least 30 day credit terms.
Julian Bourne, CEO said: “At Sellar, we run towards solving the hardest problems. Payments in the craft drinks trade is up there. This problem resonated deeply with many of our former brewery employees, who were all too familiar with the burden of thousands of pounds in unpaid invoices. Equally, hard times have hit venues, and they need flexibility to grow. We’re at a point where buyers need credit, but suppliers need cash, something needed to change to help the craft drinks industry succeed.”
Sellar is looking to launch Sellar Credit in March 2025, after a Beta testing programme in February. Sellar is currently offering exclusive rates for suppliers who wish to be part of the launch.
For only slightly more than a typical card payment fee, Sellar Credit will save small businesses valuable admin time, eradicate risk and trade customers will benefit from extended credit terms which means producers will grow sales through larger, and more frequent orders.
Sellar credit is free for buyers. For suppliers, pricing starts from just 2.99%. Sellar is giving this rate to every supplier participating in their March launch.
In response to the idea of Sellar Credit, Freddy Hardy, Co-founder of Courier Brewing
Co in Manchester said: “Less risk, more reward. It’s a no-brainer for business owners.”
Sellar is now taking requests from craft drinks venues and trade buyers who would like early access to Sellar Credit. They get to experience the benefits of the product before everyone else and play a key role in shaping the product for the craft drinks industry.
“Sellar Credit would help my business in that I would have access to a wide range of breweries. Keeping a diverse range is what helps my business, as that is what the majority of my customers want, having a credit option helps to access that more easily.” said Marius Andrici, owner of A Pint of Hops, a craft beer specialist shop in London.
Currently, if a trade buyer uses Sellar they receive individual invoices from each brewery or supplier, this is because they are buying directly from each independent business. Sellar Credit will enhance the user experience as all their orders will be consolidated into one monthly invoice.
“This would be really useful for our busy accounts team to only have one invoice!” Rhys Chamberlain, Director of Chance & Counters.
Sellar is a fast-growing software company that exists to solve problems for the craft drinks industry. Since its inception five years ago, the team at Sellar has worked closely with owners of craft breweries and other drinks producers to build a better way of doing trade sales that benefits small businesses.
The idea of Sellar was born when the founders of Sellar were told trade sales were “archaic and a total ballache”. Orders were being placed over the phone and through email. Trade buyers had to sift through hundreds of emails each week just to find out what was available.
In 2019, Sellar offered bespoke online storefronts and live availability for producers to share with their trade customers. This began a revolution where countless spreadsheets and PDFs were binned and thousands of admin hours have since been saved by small businesses.
Sellar negotiated competitive courier shipping rates on behalf of all their suppliers in 2023. These rates were and remain far lower than what small craft drink producers typically secure independently. This has saved small producers hundreds of thousands of pounds each year
In 2024, Sellar Market was launched where trade customers can shop from over 250 suppliers on Sellar, all in one place.
Matt Pritchard, COO of Sellar said: “Sellar Market was the next natural step for us to make. We had hundreds of suppliers using Sellar for their direct trade sales, why not give buyers a one-stop shop that makes their life easier? Small craft drinks businesses now achieve greater visibility with Sellar Market.”
Sellar is truly unique, dubbing itself a “marketspace” because they are not wholesale distributor and they do not take a cut out of every order like a traditional e-commerce marketplace.
By using Sellar, craft drinks producers can keep control over their pricing and work to increase their profit margin by increasing direct trade sales and streamlining their processes. The fact the producer is in control means they can offer the best direct price for their products to venues using Sellar to purchase products.
Sellar is free for trade buyers to use as the suppliers on Sellar pay a subscription fee for their online storefront. Buyers and suppliers benefit from being able to maintain their direct relationships and manage everything in one place. Suppliers benefit further with higher margins, meaning that buyers get a lower price.
Matt Pritchard, Coo said: “We feel grateful to be able to work on solving the hardest problems for our community of creative and hard-working business owners.”
Sellar is currently taking requests for early access to Sellar Credit from trade buyers of craft drinks. Sellar Credit is due to be launched fully in March 2025.
Trade buyer requests for early access: https://sellar.typeform.com/to/pUuBPMPD
Press Contact:
Sarah Sinclair – Marketing Manager
sarah@sellar.io | 07446989485
Useful Links:
- Testimonials
- Sellar Credit for Suppliers
- Instagram For Buyers
- Instagram For Suppliers
- Sellar Brand Pack
Supporting material:
When speaking to Good Beer Hunting, Andy Parker the founder of Elusive Brewing in Berkshire said: “When I look at what we’re owed, it’s usually about a month’s revenue that’s overdue. Often it’s an oversight, but that does wear pretty thin on the second or third time of chasing—it becomes obvious they either don’t have the money or they’re stalling.”
In the same article, Paul Jones the founder of Cloudwater Brew Co in Manchester said: “Early on, one supplier was months late paying £15,000,” says Cloudwater Brew Co.’s founder Paul Jones. “That kept me awake for months; we were flying so close to the wind it was untrue. My ability to put our profit to use, fund new equipment, and better support my staff is still massively impaired because we don’t reliably know when and sometimes if we’re going to be paid.”
Press Contact:
Sarah Sinclair – Marketing Manager
sarah@sellar.io | 07446989485
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