Beerwulf - cheap online beer shop (well, for Belgian beers at least)

[HungryHippos]

Its' really such a shame as the service from Mark was impeccable. Barring delivery issues from Yodel being a thing I was very happy with Beerwulf, and I know that even if Yodel broke every bottle BW would re-send them with no hassle.

Upping prices by 100% on a whim though is a big change to stomach, and fortunately alcohol to me isn't Crack so I can get it elsewhere for less

My local M & S usually has 4 for 3 on a reasonable selection of Belgian ales, do miss a lot of the selection from Beerwulf, but I can live on Delirium Tremens and Duvel probably if I need to.

I'd urge anyone else who feels the same to let Beerwulf know that it's not encouraging future sales to up prices like this, especially if you are already in contact with them like you are @Shoeyuk.

@BlackAle it's been a good run with you!

 

[Ayahuasca]

I got the Belgian Beer Pack for £21.95 with the new customer discount, by the sounds of it I won't be ordering again though with the price increase

 

[HungryHippos]

I got the Belgian Beer Pack for £21.95 with the new customer discount, by the sounds of it I won't be ordering again though with the price increase

It's very good value and totally worth that imo.

 

[BlackAle]

I tried accessing Beerwulf via a VPN so that I'd get prices in €, it seems we are getting fleeced. For instance...

Actually the VPN wasn't necessary, just changing the language on the site suffices, I'm not impressed.

 

[HungryHippos]

Interesting to see, setting it to France is also strangely expensive in comparison. Rochefort 10 is 3.50 EUR for example.

I get regional pricing and some minor differences when shipping internationally, but most of the countries they server are similarly "affluent" on affordability, I'd assume the main difference is shipping/taxes.

As we are still in the EU there shouldn't be anything too crazy going on. In every case they have to put them into boxes and send them, if the shipping is more costly to the UK then reflect that by giving a fixed shipping cost to the UK or up the minimum requirement for free shipping. I'd rather have good prices and a lower minimum order value than expensive unit prices that are taking shipping costs into account.

 

[Shoeyuk]

I just noticed its free shipping with 16 beers now instead of 12 when i ordered a couple of days ago.

Spoke to Mark he is going to replace the missing beers from my order and should be here saturday. However a couple are out of stock but there's a few others i wanted to try so they have been swapped and he has also added a few extras to make up a full box.

@HungryHippos @BlackAle I did ask Mark about the pricing and he did say that he admit that some of the prices increases were a little strong, and would look into it. He has responded Re the prices and that i could post his response here:

As for the prices, I've dived into this, and I can now tell you there are quite some considerations that went into this. Please see my reply to this case below, please feel free to share this on the forum too

We had to increase some of our prices, I'm afraid, for a multitude of reasons:

1: We strive to offer a fair price for the consumer, but also for the brewer. Some of our prices were well below their suggested retail price, and we had to adapt a little.
2: Our low prices unfortunately also meant that some of our products carried a negative margin for Beerwulf. We are a business and have to think like one, meaning that some increases were made to make sure that we're not losing money per bottle.
3: The duty rate on Alcohol, especially in the UK is quite high, further influencing the need to up our prices. This influenced our margin and also means that some products might carry a higher price in the UK compared to other markets.

I fully understand that this is very disappointing for a number or reasons. Our earlier prices were a very strong point but it was never our intention to be a prize fighter of sorts. We do intend to monitor and match the prices of both supermarkets and other online platforms to keep our offers fair for you. These increases do mean that we as a company can survive and keep selling you quality craft and speciality beers for years to come.

 

[Shoeyuk]

Some more prices rises i have noticed since my order on saturday

Gulpener Ur-Hop has gone up from £0.79 to £1.49
Erdinger Hefeweizen £1.09 to £1.89

 

[BlackAle]

We had to increase some of our prices, I'm afraid, for a multitude of reasons:

1: We strive to offer a fair price for the consumer, but also for the brewer. Some of our prices were well below their suggested retail price, and we had to adapt a little.
2: Our low prices unfortunately also meant that some of our products carried a negative margin for Beerwulf. We are a business and have to think like one, meaning that some increases were made to make sure that we're not losing money per bottle.
3: The duty rate on Alcohol, especially in the UK is quite high, further influencing the need to up our prices. This influenced our margin and also means that some products might carry a higher price in the UK compared to other markets.

1. That's just Belgium acting in a protectionist way, it shouldn't be allowed in the European market.
2. I think that's nonsense, I doubt Beerwulf have ever sold beer for less than they buy it.
3. We are still part of Europe, so duty isn't an issue. That's another lame excuse.

 

[~Divine~Wind~]

I've been waiting to order but now looks like I. Might not bother.

What's the new customer discount?
Think I'll grab a Belgian selection pack before that goes upto 49.99 lol

And as above yea the duty/import line reads as utter ******. Unless there's some additional tax they need to pay that I'm not aware of when importing stuff

 

[Ron Grainger]

Just had to jump in here as I have now had many deliveries of the Belgian kind from Beerwulf and found their service to be excellent. However the recent price increases are ridiculous! The Grimbergen Tripel having already gone up for £1.19 to £1.99 currently stands at £2.49. I had the same reply about this as Shoeyuk so Mark is obviously copying and pasting that into emails and forums alike.

Hard to believe that they were really selling at below cost on some of these beers although I suppose they could have been using the Lost Leader technique to draw people in. Crazy though, that some of these beers are now cheaper in the supermarket while Beerwulf continues to advertise "Supermarket prices". The big thing is that many of these beers are not available in the UK except through other online stores and actually, along with the free delivery after 16 bottles, it is still possible to find a few bargains among the Beerwulf selection and make up a case without breaking the bank. Unfortunately though this is not quite as easy as before.

Let's hope that they realise this may/will drive customers away and review these increases. Mark says, "Our earlier prices were a very strong point but it was never our intention to be a prize fighter of sorts". Well that may be the case but surely everyone knows that lowest prices combined with great service is a sure way to succeed. It would be a shame to see them have to pull out of the market here when they have the potential to become the market leader.

 

[Shoeyuk]

If there were selling them stupidly cheap I wouldn’t begrudge a small rise but when some beers have gone up by over £1 that’s a bit crazy.

My replacement order should be here any minute. I find the rises very hard to take when orders get mislaid or are late.

Marks very helpful and gets them reorderd quickly and chucks a couple of extra beers and refunds a bit of the order but with the extra price rises it’s almost worth the hit of going to the local supermarket, although the selection isn’t as good.

 

[HungryHippos]

I've been waiting to order but now looks like I. Might not bother.

What's the new customer discount?
Think I'll grab a Belgian selection pack before that goes upto 49.99 lol

And as above yea the duty/import line reads as utter ******. Unless there's some additional tax they need to pay that I'm not aware of when importing stuff

The discount code you get when you sign up for the newsletter on the site, you can use a throwaway email address.

 

[HungryHippos]

They finally cottoned on to the Belgian ale pack being under priced, it's gone from £26.95 to £30.95. The Trappist pack is still £36.95 though which isn't bad as it has some quite expensive ones in it (Tre Fontane is over £5 a bottle).

I have quite a backlog though, and more arriving from relatives who've gone over to Belgium recently.

In the end I am as disappointed with the price increases as the rest of you, but I have also enjoyed quite a few well priced ales so I am not going to change my 5 * reviews or get mad about it. I can probably live on the limited selection in our supermarkets if I have to, probably try to stock up before the official Brexit date as well where prices may go quite a bit higher.

 

[Ron Grainger]

Phew! I just got another order for the Belgian pack in before the price increase. When you tot up the individual beers it does come to over £36 so I guess this still represents good value. Likewise the Trappist Pack has a total value of £42.04 so we're getting over a fiver off. It looks as though the packs are definitely the way to go for the best value.

 

[silent]

seems a very good priced outlet. order time.

i just bottled a brewform diabolo homebrew and thats lovely.

 

[HungryHippos]

Trappist pack is now 40.95 GBP! :9

 

[silent]

i ordered 18 bottles. 15 belgium, mainly ones i've not tasted or heard of.

 

[Ron Grainger]

Trappist pack is now 40.95 GBP! :9

Represents a saving of £4.29 if bought separately. These are serious beers!

 

[HungryHippos]

Represents a saving of £4.29 if bought separately. These are serious beers!

Yes, but the previous one was 36.95 and seemed to contain the same ones, so it's less of a good deal now than it was.

I have a little over 100 bottles of various Belgian ales to drink still, so no hurry to get more at the moment

 

[Ron Grainger]

Yes it seems that the price increases are still going on. I'm fairly sure though that they are still on the whole cheaper than BeerHawk, Beers Of Europe etc.