Tipple makes plans for a national top-up

Alcohol delivery service Tipple is eyeing going national, as millennials lap up the idea of a bottle shop in your pocket.

Tipple co-founder Ryan Barrington.

Melbourne-based on-demand alcohol delivery service Tipple is readying for a national expansion, as millennials lap up the idea of a bottle shop in your pocket.

After building its own online marketplace, tech platform and a delivery network with more than 100 drivers, the company is now looking to expand from its Melbourne roots.

The company’s tech plugs in to bottle shops, allowing them to deliver alcohol in less than 30 minutes. Tipple’s tech sends orders to the partner stores, algorithmically sorting them into optimal delivery routes and automatically assigning pick-up and delivery to the closest available driver.

“We’ve grown massively throughout Victoria, and we’re now being approached by bottle shops in other states,” Tipple co-founder Ryan Barrington told The Australian. “We have a 6 per cent market penetration in Windsor (in Melbourne), which is averaging $1.5 million in sales per year.

“There are 39 bottle shops within our Windsor zone alone, so it’s a testament to our tech platform and user experience that we’ve been able to achieve so much success in such a highly saturated area.”

Pointing to the likes of Uber Eats, Deliveroo and Amazon, Mr Barrington said customers now wanted everything delivered on demand, including alcohol.

Launched in late 2015, Tipple now delivers to 262 Melbourne suburbs, and has more than 500 product lines on its platform. The average sale on Tipple is $70, double that of a bottle shop. Mr Barrington said Tipple had identified 41 zones earmarked cross Australia as potential hot spots, based on population figures and number of bottle shops, among other things. He hopes to expand Tipple nationwide by July.

The company received private investment from Shane Wilkinson of Pace Developments Group, and while Mr Barrington said Tipple was always looking for more capital, the partner-based model made scaling the business relatively inexpensive.

“We’re looking at other verticals,” he said. “Liquor is a massive proof point for us. Soon it’ll be about getting everything on demand.

“Next-day delivery is basically gone. The problem everyone’s trying to solve is how do you get something delivered in 30 minutes.”

Concerns are mounting that delivery drivers for the likes of Uber and Deliveroo aren’t being paid enough, but Mr Barrington said Tipple drivers were paid 40 or 50 per cent more than the market average.

“The difference with alcohol is you can do more orders per delivery run,” he said. “With food, it’s one transaction, and if the guy doesn’t answer the door then the food goes cold. With alcohol, it’ll keep. Often with us you’re doing seven, eight or nine orders per hour.

“If you don’t treat them fairly, they’ll leave.”