Challenge

A subsidiary of Heineken, Beerwulf aims to provide everything needed to enjoy beer at home—from a wide selection of curated craft beers and well-known lagers to high quality home draught machines. After a shift in customer demand in the post-COVID ecommerce world, Beerwulf has had to adapt its marketing efforts to attract new customers and retain the loyalty of existing customers.

Beerwulf sold more of its home draught systems during the pandemic, and sales continued to grow even after pubs and restaurants reopened again. In fact, sales of home draught systems increased by 50% between 2019 and 2022. Now that the cost of living is rising and people are more likely to host events at home, Beerwulf’s business is continuing to scale. It now operates in 10 markets across the EU and the UK with plans for further international expansion.

However, this meant that Beerwulf needed a payments partner to expedite growth and provide a completely frictionless checkout process while minimising fraud risks.

Solution

Beerwulf turned to Stripe as a known leader in the marketplace offering. Using Connect, Beerwulf was able to build its marketplace in under two months, giving customers the ability to pay with their preferred payment method. For example, iDEAL is a popular Netherlands-based payment method, while most customers in the UK rely on credit cards. “Being able to adapt to our customers has had a great impact on our sales and customer loyalty,” says Catherine Safaya, chief financial officer of Beerwulf.

Even more important, Stripe helps fight fraud. Stripe Radar, which detects and blocks fraud using machine learning, provides the ideal balance of keeping fraud rates as low as possible while maximising Beerwulf’s payment acceptance rates. “I rely on Stripe to block fraud before it happens, and use the early warning and dispute management capabilities to respond quickly to suspect behaviour,” Safaya says.

Results

Today, Stripe enables Beerwulf to maintain its outstanding service, from user experience with online payments to the final stage of home delivery. Beerwulf’s team also relies on Stripe to stay updated on payment trends across its markets, so the company can make informed decisions about which solutions to implement.

Because Beerwulf was so impressed with Stripe Connect’s performance and innovation, it decided to move its entire volume to Stripe. Beerwulf now utilises Stripe to manage all of its payment needs—from online payments to its subscription platform, which offers draught beer on tap at home via a monthly subscription that delivers a selection of beer each month.