‘There’s tons of whitespace’: Minibar Delivery’s Lindsey Andrews on the growing alcohol e-commerce space

E-commerce saw unprecedented gains in 2020, especially in areas like alcohol that historically relied on in-store sales. Indeed, Minibar Delivery -- a platform whose name aptly describes its services -- saw a 500% increase of new customers in March and April of last year. Now, the company is trying to keep growth apace while adding more cities and liquor store partners to its roster. CEO and co-founder Lindsey Andrews joined the Modern Retail Podcast this week and talked about Minibar’s trajectory. Right now, Minibar is available in 18 different states with its on-demand delivery offering. It also has a shipping service up and running in 40 states too. In 2020, said Andrews, “a flip was switched and things went crazy.” It wasn’t just more customers seeking out delivered booze either; “We did see a massive spike in new stores wanting to get on the platform -- and we tried to move as fast as possible to help them do that.” With that, the last year has been about keeping up with the demand. Now, Andrews says Minibar is looking toward the future. That includes onboarding more retail partners, as well as seeking out new cities to expand to. Even with stores reopening and more people going back out, Andrews thinks consumers have built up a new muscle around this kind of delivery. “I’m 100% bullish on the category,” she said. “I think there’s tons of whitespace and room to grow.”