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Diageo and the elusive direct consumer

The alcohol major admits that selling directly to a customer is not an easy task and goes back to wholesale and retail partners.

Diageo, the alcohol giant which sells brands such as Johnnie Walker and Gordon’s Gin, is looking to hone in on its digital capabilities, in which ecommerce plays an important role.

Selling directly to customers has proved to be a tricky task for the company, however. Its luxury online retail destination Alexander & James, which launched five years ago but shut down in January this year, “wasn’t doing what it needed to do”.

Diageo has no intentions of giving up on digital. The new route is to predominantly spend money not only on partnerships with Google, Facebook and Instagram, but also looking at newer players like dating app Tinder.

At the moment, it is putting its ‘house in order’.

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