Direct From Italy introduces Bevendy, the SaaS platform created to expand international B2C and B2B direct sales for wine, beer, and spirits. Powered by advanced automation for customs compliance, tax, and logistics across more than 46 countries, Bevendy enables companies to sell alcohol abroad with ultimate ease, seamlessly harmonizing both in-store and online operations.
Bureaucracy, customs, and logistics: the infrastructure behind Bevendy
International direct sales to private customers (B2C) and Ho.Re.Ca (B2B) represent a strategic share of revenue for alcohol producers. However, business opportunities often run up against complex bureaucracy: complying with regulations that vary state by state while ensuring that elements like excise duties, customs duties, packaging tax regulations, and VAT are always aligned, up to date, and expertly managed to avoid massive time drains and the risk of penalties.
Bevendy was built as a technology enabler to remove these barriers. The software automates the fiscal and customs supply chain, calculating every tax down to the penny in real time. From tax settlement and customs documentation to automated logistics, the platform turns a complex bureaucratic process into an immediate, secure sales workflow.
From the point of sale to online: the B2C experience that builds customer loyalty
Often, customers who visit your business taste your products, enjoy a great experience, and are ready to buy: a fantastic result, but one that should only be the beginning. For foreign visitors, however, buying one or two cases becomes complicated, leading them to settle for just a few bottles in their luggage or a single case in their car. The real issue is that the company loses their contact details, making it impossible to follow up on the relationship and turn that great initial purchase into long-term customer loyalty.
The Business-to-Consumer channel, on the other hand, should be nurtured right at the point of contact with the customer, which is critical for establishing a longer-term relationship, even from afar.
For this reason, Bevendy consists of two B2C components: one for the physical point of sale, which captures customer interest and initiates a lasting relationship; and one for e-commerce, a powerful tool for driving long-term customer loyalty.
In particular:
- At the point of sale: During the visit, purchases happen on impulse. With Bevendy, your staff can now capture those moments of high purchase intent and complete the sale in just a few seconds using the cloud dashboard—accessible on any device—while providing customers with fully transparent, guaranteed costs.
During peak traffic at the point of sale, however, guiding every customer through their buying journey becomes much more complex. That’s why we created the self-order tool: visitors can complete purchases independently on their own devices via QR code (which also handles GDPR-compliant consent).
- On e-commerce: Integration with the company’s online store extends the customer lifecycle. Once back home, buyers find the same transparency on taxes and duties in your digital shop as they experienced in person, encouraging them to reorder without purchase barriers.
By centralizing all international orders, Bevendy enables wineries to track buying habits and launch personalized re-engagement campaigns, turning one-time buyers into repeat customers.
Streamlining sales to Ho.Re.Ca.
While the dynamics of the B2C market are now clear to us, we are certainly all aware of the complexity and numerous steps required to successfully close a deal with Ho.Re.Ca. clients, especially foreign ones.
Managing international direct B2B channels often involves complex, fragmented communication, handling a wide variety of catalogs, and navigating the operational and bureaucratic challenges unique to the Ho.Re.Ca. sector. This requires verifying the customer’s tax requirements—such as VIES registration and the ability to manage EAD documents—as well as identifying a certified freight forwarder capable of guaranteeing precise quotes and handling customs formalities.
What is the impact of all this? Fragmented communication channels, grueling negotiations, slow response times, and, all too often, the very real risk of losing valuable business opportunities.
Bevendy streamlines the entire channel by providing sales teams and professional buyers with a private portal to access dedicated price lists and place order requests independently.
A decisive operational advantage concerns taxes: operating through the platform, neither the seller nor the buyer is required to hold an excise code, removing barrier to entry for foreign restaurants, hotels, and wine shops that often do not know how to manage these dynamics. The company maintains full control over negotiations, approving or renegotiating offers in just a few clicks and selling abroad with the guarantee that all costs are already calculated with exact precision.
Data, contacts, and analytics: data-driven decision making
When orders come in from different channels—the shop point-of-sale, e-commerce, and the B2B network—information risks getting scattered. Bevendy centralizes all data in a single dashboard:
- Commercial planning: Integrated analytics reveal top-performing international markets and high-demand products in real time, guiding promotional investments across your various sales channels.
- Customer segmentation: Analyzing purchasing habits allows you to offer seasonal reorders or new catalog items to specific target audiences.
- Accounting traceability: Every sale maintains a transparent history of generated documents and taxes paid, providing an easily accessible archive for administrative needs.
Invoicing and logistics for selling alcohol abroad
Every winery or distillery has a different organizational structure. Some want total control over their in-house inventory, others prefer to outsource everything to stay hands-off with operations, and some need a hybrid approach—such as entrusting storage and shipping to a third-party logistics provider while continuing to manage invoicing internally.
Bevendy offers total freedom to combine and adapt these assets based on your actual needs, allowing companies to manage inventory and accounting independently or fully integrated. Whether you choose an in-house, delegated, or hybrid model, the platform ensures that all tax data, customs documents, and order statuses remain fully synchronized.
Take your brand everywhere
Expand your sales and make your brand known worldwide: with Bevendy, selling alcohol abroad today is as easy as selling down the street.
