Jack Daniels’ owner Brown Forman is streamlining merch distribution with a new global platform

Global drinks company Brown-Forman is to centralise distribution of its merchandise and POS materials across Europe, Africa, and Asia by implementing a new, digital ordering platform.

The Jack Daniels brand owner will use the system to handle a programme covering six merch product categories: barware, drinkware, giftpacks, giveaways and promotional items, signage, and branded clothing.

Brown-Forman has appointed Czech company MVIA to oversee supply chain logistics and distribution of merchandising and POS materials for 16 brands. As well as Jack Daniels, the company brands include Diplomático Rum, Gin Mare, and Herradura.

A ​collaboration agreement ​​will see the MVIA HUB platform introduced to unify the ​order and payment processing and distribution ​management of merch and POS materials, streamlining collaboration between regional and local teams.

Reliable execution

Valentina Schiavoni, director – regional procurement & POS Europe, Africa & Asia Pacific at Brown-Forman, said the platform would allow standardisation of ​​fulfilment​​​​​​, smoothing the ordering process and coordinating every step from warehousing to final distribution.

“Merchandise and POS materials are important to our market strategy. As we scale our cooperation across regions, we require a solution that delivers clarity, reliability and practical execution for both our regional and local teams.”

The central platform will benefit Brown-Forman by providing better visibility and control over orders, costs and delivery. Consolidated purchasing will lower unit costs and minimum order quantities, while maintaining consistent product quality and branding. Centralised reporting and a more efficient procurement process is a further benefit.

MVIA picked up the business following an international tender. It already runs similar merchandise and POS programmes for global clients, including Coca-Cola, Carlsberg and Asahi. Each set-up is tailored to the client’s needs and may combine stock, buying windows, warehousing, fulfilment and global distribution.

The company developed its first online solution for promotional item management for Coke in 2004, at a time when fax-based ordering was the norm.

Jiří Smejkal, CEO of MVIA said: “This collaboration allows us to fully deploy the comprehensive enterprise capabilities of the MVIA HUB platform to support complex multi-regional fulfilment workflows. Projects like this help us demonstrate the robustness of our solutions at a truly multinational level​​.”

Tailored programme

The first phase of the cooperation will focus on taking over and managing merch and POS inventory, fulfilment, and distribution to participating regions. During this phase, MVIA will ​​provide logistical support for ​​Brown-Forman brands across several product categories.

A second phase will include further development of the MVIA HUB platform and the implementation of so-called buying windows​ while Brown-Forman continues to independently control and retain​ all procurement and vendor tendering and selection functions​​.

A hybrid set-up will have selected core and frequently ordered items stored in MVIA’s warehouse in Czechia from where they can be ordered continuously.

Other campaign-specific or higher-volume items are produced after orders from different markets are consolidated through buying windows. MVIA also manages the related warehousing, logistics and fulfilment.

Products will support hospitality and on-trade venues, retail activations, consumer promotions and gifting.