{"id":11201,"date":"2021-03-08T14:54:48","date_gmt":"2021-03-08T13:54:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alistar.net\/referentie\/d-drinks-we-zijn-de-underdog-en-microsoft-dynamics-helpt-ons-opboksen-tegen-de-drankengiganten\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T11:14:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T09:14:18","slug":"at-d-drinks-were-the-underdog-and-microsoft-dynamics-helps-us-compete-with-the-beverage-giants","status":"publish","type":"referentie","link":"https:\/\/alistar.net\/en\/referentie\/d-drinks\/","title":{"rendered":"D-Drinks: \u201cWe\u2019re the underdog, and Microsoft Dynamics helps us compete with the beverage giants.\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI still remember clearly that on a winter day in November 2008, a large semi-truck pulled up in front of our house and a pallet of AriZona Iced Tea was unloaded into our garage. Before that, we\u2019d been on the phone with the Americans and were told, \u2018Sorry, guys, but I don\u2019t think this is going to work.\u2019 We really wanted to distribute their iced tea, but we didn\u2019t really have a company yet. We were just \u2018Two dynamic guys who want to distribute your product in Belgium,\u2019\u201d Steven laughs. \u201cThey turned us down, but we found a pallet that was already in Europe and that we could buy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today, AriZona Iced Tea is the number two brand in the Benelux after Lipton. \u201cWe saw a huge gap between water on the one hand and traditional soft drinks on the other,\u201d says Steven Van Middelem. \u201cIn other countries, there\u2019s a whole range of natural, healthy beverages in between,\u201d he continues, \u201cand it\u2019s our job to find the products that will appeal to our consumers as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Get Better Organized to Grow<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">D-Drinks started out serving the lunch-time food service sector in the capital cities, but quickly expanded across the board: from Formula 1 to gas stations to small sandwich shops. They supply these establishments either directly or through distributors, wholesalers, and beverage retailers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe started with simple invoicing in Excel,\u201d says Steven, \u201cafter which we switched to a small invoicing package in combination with an external accountant. That way, we could continue to focus on sales. Two years later, we launched our Dutch subsidiary and realized we needed more than just invoicing software. We chose a small Dutch ERP system for both Belgium and the Netherlands and used it for quite some time, but the support wasn\u2019t up to par.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIn the meantime, we had equipped our sales team with <a href=\"https:\/\/alistar.net\/en\/crm\/\">Microsoft Dynamics CRM<\/a> \u201dAnd that went well,\u201c Steven explains. \"That's how we got involved in Alistar's expansion <a href=\"https:\/\/alistar.net\/en\/erp\/technology\/drinkmaster-365\/\">DrinkMaster<\/a> \u201dreleased for Microsoft Dynamics NAV,\u201c he continues, \u201dWe\u2019ve been using Microsoft Dynamics &amp; Drinkmaster since January 1, 2017. We use it for our entire financial operations, purchasing and sales, inventory management\u2014including suspended stock\u2014planning and dispatching of our own shipments, and so on. Dynamics helps us distribute approximately 120,000 units per day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe now want to work toward further integration between <a href=\"https:\/\/alistar.net\/en\/crm\/\">CRM<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/alistar.net\/en\/erp\/solutions\/\">ERP software<\/a>. \u201dThat will save us a lot of time,\u201c Steven explains his plans, \u201dand there\u2019s still some work to be done when it comes to reporting and BI. Drinkmaster was equipped with very comprehensive dimensions, allowing us to analyze the figures in detail by brand and by customer. Now we need to make all that data more easily accessible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Guerrilla Marketing &amp; Social Media<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">D-Drinks distributes approximately 35 brands, ranging from specialty mineral waters to natural juices and beverages to healthy snacks. For each brand, target audiences and potential sales channels are identified, after which the sales team gets to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The company has not yet outgrown the DNA from which it was born. Just as in the days of Steven\u2019s garage, there is still a very strong hands-on mentality. Not a single euro is spent on above-the-line marketing. D-Drinks resolutely opts for a guerrilla approach, with activations that create buzz, sampling, and \u201cfeet-on-the-street\u201d campaigns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Instagram, Facebook, and other social media platforms are then used to further promote those campaigns. \u201cWe have a full-time social media manager on staff,\u201d says Steven, \u201cwe work with a lot of brands, and almost all of them have their own social media profiles that we use to stay in touch with consumers and the community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019re the underdog, the challenger,\u201d Van Middelem continues, \u201cthe big beverage giants are seeing their market share in the traditional soft drink sector shrink by 3 % every year. So they\u2019re not sitting idly by in our segment either, and on top of that, they have a great deal of power and massive budgets.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOn top of that, while the range of products is growing, shelf space in stores isn\u2019t. The major competitors can use their clout to buy shelf space. Fortunately, the consumer is king, and consumers want to try new things. So retailers have no choice but to keep their shelves dynamic, and that certainly works to our advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOur strength lies in identifying new products and assessing whether they are a fleeting fad or a lasting trend. We expect <a href=\"https:\/\/alistar.net\/en\/erp\/technology\/microsoft-dynamics-365-business-central\/\">Microsoft Dynamics<\/a> \u201dIt handles all the administrative work, so we can focus as much as possible on the products,\" Steven concludes.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 2008, Steven Van Middelem and his business partner Bruno Berleng\u00e9 launched their company from their own garage. Eight years later, D-Drinks has a consolidated revenue of 25 million euros, with offices in the Netherlands and Belgium, while Paris beckons. \u201cWe started with literally one pallet of Arizona Iced Tea and drove around with our trunk loaded to the brim, going from beverage stores to sandwich shops and so on.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":36029,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false},"tags":[233,171,161],"industrie-type":[1257,1097,666],"interesses":[598,600,392],"techologie":[824,612,622],"alistar_language":[],"class_list":["post-11201","referentie","type-referentie","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-crm","tag-drinkmaster-365","tag-erp","industrie-type-drankensector","industrie-type-groothandel-en-logistiek","industrie-type-productie-en-industrie","interesses-aankoop","interesses-sales","interesses-service-en-operations","techologie-crm","techologie-erp","techologie-microsoft-crm"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>D-Drinks kiest voor Drinkmaster 365<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"&quot;We zijn de underdog en Drinkmaster 365 helpt ons opboksen tegen de drankengiganten\u201d. 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