7-Eleven Group has acquired a majority stake in alcohol delivery startup Tipple. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Launched by brothers Shane and Ryan Barrington in Melbourne in late 2015, Tipple integrates with local bottle shops to provide on-demand delivery to customers. It is now servicing more than 120 suburbs across Sydney and Melbourne, promising customers delivery in 30 minutes.
Angus McKay, CEO of 7-Eleven, said that Tipple’s business model and platform aligns with 7-Eleven exploring how to best evolve its digital, delivery, and in-store services to address the needs of its customers.
“While in time there may be interesting opportunities for the two businesses to explore and work together serving convenience customers, for now this partnership is about bringing our customer insights and marketing expertise to help accelerate the growth and expansion of Tipple as a standalone business,” he said.
Ryan Barrington, CEO of Tipple, said the startup “couldn’t be happier” to be gearing up for growth with the support of 7-Eleven.
“Their expertise and capabilities are unparalleled, but it’s our shared ambition to create new and engaging customer experiences on the cutting edge of convenience that excites us most. We’re very excited about the potential for this partnership to transform the landscape of both alcohol and convenience retailing in Australia,” he said.
With the idea for Tipple coming to Barrington through his own experience owning a bottle shop, the service has over the last few years developed a focus on how to best leverage and use data.
As well as helping optimise internal processes around packaging and delivery, Barrington previously told Startup Daily that Tipple works to build complete profiles of customer behaviour, looking to understand what motivates customers to buy and why, with this information of interest to suppliers.
“We get a lot of interest from suppliers wanting to access our data, so that they can make more informed decisions about their products. For example, with the emerging craft beer market, suppliers are wanting to know where they should concentrate their supply and marketing efforts,” Barrington said.
With Tipple’s growth as “a standalone business” the focus, the next 12 months will see the startup work to bring on more bottle shop partners to expand its service further.
Image: Shane & Ryan Barrington. Source: Supplied.
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