Partnership Information

Direct-to-Consumer e-Commerce for Distilled Spirits

Kentucky Bourbon Direct is working with 30+ (and growing weekly) premium whiskey brands and distilleries based in Kentucky to offer newly available pure direct shipping to an initial seven states that have agreed to allow legal and compliant shipments of spirits to Kentucky, Alaska, Arizona, Kentucky, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, the District of Columbia, and many APO/FPO/DPO locations. 
In addition to these seven states, through our retailer license, you can ship to 35 additional states in legal and compliant ways while capturing around 70% margins.
Distillers choose to partner with Kentucky Bourbon Direct because:
1. Provides a turnkey solution for compliance, marketplace, storage, fulfillment, and digital marketing.
2. You can establish and nurture direct relationships with your customers.
3. You can seed your brand in markets in which you do not yet have traditional three-tier distribution. Use these data points to determine which states make sense for future distribution.
4. You can venture into the lucrative world of e-commerce and increase your margins. In fact, they will improve vs. traditional three-tier distribution.
5. Eliminate the middleman for barrel picks, media samples, corporate promotions, and limited and online-only releases maximizing your margins.
6. Work with the only DTC company actually in Kentucky.
Don’t take our word for it; check out what some of our brand partners have to say:

“Kentucky Bourbon Direct empowers bourbon/whiskey brands with a truly comprehensive approach to Direct-To-Consumer, which ensures the DTC channel is a reliable and sustainable revenue stream for brands of all sizes. In the previously confusing landscape of potential DTC partners, one clear choice has emerged, Kentucky Bourbon Direct. Kentucky Bourbon Direct’s reach and ability to ship DTC to 43 U.S. States has created a distinct competitive advantage for Eastern Light Distilling and our brand partners, which allows us to utilize actionable data when selecting future distribution as well as brand spend. In an age of transactional relationships, it is more important than ever to build an authentic relationship with your consumer by transcending the transaction, which Kentucky Bourbon Direct provides.”

Cordell Lawrence
Owner/Co-founder
Eastern Light Distiller 

“Our company has worked with a number of DTC shipping companies, but Kentucky Bourbon Direct has been by far the best. They run a fantastic full-service operation that makes sure producers are covered on POS, fulfillment, shipping, and perhaps most importantly, in terms of compliance.  
As DTC shipping expands into different states, having a partner like Kentucky Bourbon Direct offers our company the assurance that we’re best positioned to take advantage of these growing market opportunities.”

Harry T. Richart IV
Bourbon 30 Spirits
President & CFO 

Kentucky Bourbon Direct empowers beverage alcohol distillers, suppliers, and non-distilling producers with DTC eCommerce Solutions specific to their needs. 

Distilled spirits brands partner with Kentucky Bourbon Direct to create, manage, and scale their DTC capabilities and operations, so you can focus on building your brand. 
Kentucky Bourbon Direct provides a turnkey solution for spirits brands because we understand and have overcome some of the most challenging aspects of enabling DTC eCommerce in this highly regulated industry: 
* Legal and Compliant Sales of Distilled Spirits Direct to Consumers
* Inventory Management, Pick & Pack, Fulfillment, and Logistics
* Sales Performance, Tax Collection, and Reporting 
* Support for Online Marketing and Digital Advertising 

We understand that DTC eCommerce for distilled spirits is still in its formative stages, so that’s why we’ve created a one-stop solution to help alleviate the risks and costs of building and managing your own DTC channel strategy and eCommerce stores.

We are a team of brand builders, marketing strategists, and eCommerce veterans who know how to increase revenue and enterprise value for spirits brands. Partnering with Kentucky Bourbon Direct offers a variety of benefits to enable your success in DTC while providing a premium experience for your customers.

Legal and Compliant Sales of Distilled Spirits Direct to Consumers 

While many options exist for three-tier e-commerce, Kentucky Bourbon Direct enables you, the supplier, to benefit from direct-to-consumer e-commerce sales and outsourced fulfillment. We help a variety of distilled spirits suppliers and brands take advantage of more attractive margins and we enable you to create direct relationships with your customers. 
Our process is simple and allows your brands to start selling DTC online in weeks rather than months. When you partner with us, you will enjoy a branded shopping cart solution that features: 
* A bespoke and secure extension of your branded website that showcases your expressions with beautiful photography and SEO-friendly product information designed to convert browsers into buyers.
* A 100% legal and compliant payment solution for DTC transactions that accepts customer payments without monthly fees or expensive software licenses.
* Age Affirmation and Address Verification ensure another layer of limiting purchases to customers of Legal Drinking Age in states with reciprocal shipping laws only.
* Shipping Address Verification also verifies that no shipments of distilled spirits go to dry counties or other areas where shipment of beverage alcohol may be currently prohibited. 
* Adult signature is required for all deliveries through our common carrier delivery partners, UPS and FedEx.You can finally influence the customer journey from discovery, to purchase, to final delivery and presentation. 

Inventory Management, Pick & Pack, Fulfillment and Logistics

Kentucky Bourbon Direct has partnered with Averitt in Louisville, Kentucky, located in the heart of one of the nation’s most technologically advanced distribution and logistics hubs.
With the ability to reach 95% of the U.S. population by air within 4 hours, and 65% within a day’s drive, our facility can help you streamline the shipment of your finished goods throughout the U.S., or even around the globe. Our fulfillment facility is only minutes away from one of the largest cargo and parcel hub airports in the world, so your customers will receive their orders quickly and reliably. 
When a customer places an order from your website powered by Kentucky Bourbon Direct, a trusted associate within our licensed and bonded warehouse spanning 70,000 sq ft. will pick, pack, and ship your order within minutes.
You no longer need to ask your gift shop employees or tour guides to stay late and pack boxes to ship to consumers directly from your homeplace. 
Kentucky Bourbon Direct takes care of every aspect of order management and fulfillment, including: 
* White Glove Quality Inspections and Premium Packaging Options
* Transactional emails and coordinated customer communications about order status
* Export order and transaction information for common bookkeeping integrations
* Inventory management and alerts for low-stock items

“Third-party fulfillment enables distilleries like Eastern Light to legally, compliantly, and efficiently ship our award-winning product directly to consumers in reciprocal states. The peace of mind Kentucky Bourbon Direct provides is truly transformational for us as it allows their fulfillment experts to play to their strength of securely and cost-effectively shipping our products to consumers. The in-person tour of their facility gave us supreme confidence on their expertise given their roster of world-class clients we witnessed them ship first hand.”
Cordell Lawrence
Owner/Co-founder
Eastern Light Distiller

Sales Performance, Tax Collection, and Reporting 
Your Sales Performance Dashboard gives you insights into transactional volume and value, sales taxes collected, and order status.
Tax Collection for the sale of distilled spirits online can be complex, so we have partnered with Avalara, the industry leader in the ever-changing landscape for collecting the correct amount of state, local, and wholesale taxes for distilleries, alcohol retailers, and alcohol marketplaces to mitigate compliance risk.  Schedule periodic or ad hoc reports that calculate total revenue, tax remittances, or sales performance by category or SKU. 

Support for Online Marketing and Digital Advertising 

Kentucky Bourbon Direct Marketing Services can accelerate your entry into this exciting space. Brands partner with Kentucky Bourbon Direct for our expertise in creating branded advertising campaigns with legal and compliance in mind.
With decades of experience and expertise, Kentucky Bourbon Direct helps spirits brands take advantage of new opportunities to build relationships directly with your customers, and we give you direct access to the enhanced margins and incremental volume and value that the DTC e-commerce channel provides to growing brands.

Need help creating promotions that convert? We can assist in the creation of campaigns that deliver value to your brand and customers. Utilizing LDA+ targeting and audience pixels ensures that paid advertising is delivered to the right people who show an interest in Bourbon and are more likely to purchase online.
In addition to supporting your brand’s success in DTC, we invite you to consider  
Kentucky Bourbon Direct Marketplace that features all partner brands. We know that consumers enjoy many expressions from a variety of suppliers, so offering a variety of choices in our marketplace can help elevate your brand’s consideration and conversion rate.

Options include:  
1. Elevated presence and prominence by regularly featuring your brand on our social media channels with original photography to help build brand awareness and drive more organic traffic.
2. Bundled promotions and quantity discounts that increase .
We sincerely thank you for considering Kentucky Bourbon Direct for your DTC ecommerce and fulfillment needs, and we look forward to helping your brand grow in this exciting new channel. Please reach out to me directly with any questions. 

Philip Faversham
CEO / Founder
Kentucky Bourbon Direct
E: faversham@KYBourbonDirect.com
C: (502) 432 2862