Drizly Debuts Marketplace Feature

Drizly, the firm that caters to online ordering of alcohol, is now launching a wider marketplace.

TechCrunch reported on Thursday (Sept. 29) that the debut of the expanded Drizly market lets any retailer link up with the firm’s software and sell their goods there. The user, said the site, gets the benefit of better pricing and flexibility in choice.

There’s also a change afoot with the mechanics of the technology and the buying process itself. The traditional model had leveraged data to connect the consumer with a speedy delivery time, using proximity of a vendor to ensure the quickest route from order to drop off. But now the directive is to connect with as many points of sale as possible, with the ability to integrate with 75 different POS systems, thus giving Drizly the ability to offer up pretty much everything from a given liquor store’s inventory. The technical challenge that Drizly has had to tackle over the past two and a half years, according to the site, was to “take the time and effort to make each POS work with the platform,” where three percent of all US wine and liquor stores currently have a presence.

In an interview with TechCrunch, CEO and founder Nicke Rellas noted, “people have been thinking of us as an on-demand company. But what we’ve been working on is much bigger than quick delivery. After our work since launch, standardizing a market that 50 sets of laws for 50 different states on the internet, I would say we’re more of a data company.”

The new marketplace feature lets consumers compare prices and also choose the delivery methods (consumers can pick up in store) and timing — where immediacy impacts price.

“We tell our retailers that the Drizly storefront should be treated just like the brick-and-mortar storefront,” said Rellas in the interview. “Whatever makes your store great, whether it’s price or selection or speed of delivery, you should it on Drizly, too.”