App makes liquor delivery as easy as pie

BUBBLING UP: Clint Miller, a Drizly driver for Bottles, shows off the smartphone app. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO
BUBBLING UP: Clint Miller, a Drizly driver for Bottles, shows off the smartphone app. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

Customers of Bottles liquor store in Providence now can buy wine, beer and spirits without ever setting foot inside it.

Just by using their smartphone and a free app called Drizly, or by visiting Drizly’s website at www.drizly.com, legal-age customers can shop from their homes.

“Get the door, it’s the liquor store,” is Drizly’s tagline.

Boston-based Drizly uncorked its service in parts of Providence and East Providence in March, and representatives of the technology company and the liquor store say that business has been steadily growing ever since.

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“It’s getting busier and busier,” Eric E. Taylor, Bottles general manager, said recently.

Taylor said he thinks home alcohol delivery will continue to grow, though Drizly says it is the only current app-based service in the state.

“More and more people, and especially millennials and people just outside of that age group, are turning towards using their phones for everything. Your whole life is on your phone, everything is done over a smartphone or via the Web,” Taylor said.

Taylor noted other app- and Web-based services like the ride service Uber and shopping giant Amazon, and said as they continue to become more popular, so will services like Drizly.

Bryan E. Goodwin, Drizly’s vice president of sales and retail partnerships, said Drizly picked Providence to roll out its Rhode Island service partially due to its “small, but strong tech scene.”

Goodwin said Drizly representatives also noticed that Uber launched its service successfully in the city.

Taylor said business picks up considerably on the weekend, with up to 15 deliveries a day through Drizly. Three new employees were hired to help with deliveries, which he said generally take between 20-40 minutes.

The app also allows users to see how far or how close the delivery drivers are, and sends an alert once they reach their destination, he said.

Drizly includes a 10 percent tip for drivers in their orders, but customers can adjust that, Taylor said. Orders include a $5 delivery fee and minimum purchase of $20.

Taylor said that the store did not receive special permission to deliver alcohol, as everything Drizly is doing falls within the guidelines of the R.I. Department of Business Regulation. DBR Associate Director Elizabeth Kelleher said she is not aware of any other service in the state like Drizly.

Marie Aberger, a spokeswoman for Gov. Gina M. Raimondo, said because Drizly is neither selling nor delivering the alcohol, it does not need a license. The liquor store needs to comply with state requirements regarding deliveries, meaning it must get proof that the person receiving the alcohol is 21 years of age.

Taylor said Drizly has proprietary identification verification software that “goes above and beyond anything we would do ourselves.” When delivery drivers approach a customer, they ask for their identification. They then flip it over and scan a barcode that provides the driver with information to verify the identification is valid, he said.

“Our drivers are trained to spot fake IDs,” Taylor said. “They have full latitude not to make a delivery if they are not comfortable doing it.”

Taylor said Bottles benefits from using the service because it allows the store to expand its customer reach. The store is charged a monthly licensing fee, which is scaled on volume. The fee starts at $99. It ranges anywhere from 4-7 percent of the total product that moves through the app, Goodwin said.

Drizly first unveiled its service in Boston two years ago. Two friends, co-founders Nick Rellas and Justin Robinson, were wondering why they couldn’t get alcohol delivered when technology makes everything else so readily available.

Providence marks the company’s 13th market.

The delivery area through Bottles encompasses an approximately 9-mile radius.

Goodwin said Drizly never touches any of the alcohol or money from transactions. The app is directly integrated to display the inventory for the store.

The company has raised $4.8 million in financing and has close to 40 employees, Goodwin said.

He said the company hopes to be in 25 to 30 markets by the end of the year and is in “hypergrowth mode.

“When we think of our competition, we think of people going to the liquor store. We want to make a superior shopping experience,” Goodwin said. •

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