US e-commerce cocktail business Cocktail Courier has acquired enterprise software supplier Thirstie.
Shakestar, the company that operates Cocktail Courier, said the deal would benefit the alcohol brands it works with.
Founded in 2014, Thirsty helps brands sell e-commerce and provides software and consumer analytics for online stores. Two years ago, it received investment from Republic National Distributing Company.
Drinkers can order cocktail kits and gift sets through Cocktail Culture's site, with the kits focused on cocktails like the Margarita and Cosmopolitan and including brands like Campari Grand Marnier and Wild Turkey Bourbon.
Cocktail Courier says its business gives brands the ability to “increase revenue, build engagement and leverage valuable consumer insights.”
Shakestar, which does business as Cocktail Courier, said in a statement that the deal “will enable new consumer experiences on alcohol brands' sites,” adding that it will allow brands to offer “online-exclusive products” such as bottles and cocktail kits to consumers through their own sites.
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As part of the deal, ShakeStir's Cocktailcourier.com site will use Thirstie's technology.
The combined business is “expected to see accelerated growth for both solutions and achieve profitability post-combination,” according to the statement.
“The combination of Cocktail Courier and Thirsty positions us well to accelerate our growth and make more strategic acquisitions,” said Scott Goldman, who founded Cocktail Courier in 2014 and serves as its CEO.
Thirstie co-founder and CEO Maxim Razmakhin added: “Big tech companies have clearly won the alcohol delivery race, but there's a limit to how quickly and how cheaply they can deliver a bottle of gin to your doorstep. The next area of growth will be in providing new experiences for the end consumer.”
A study released last week by Silicon Valley Bank found that e-commerce sales of wine in the United States fell last year.
Direct-to-consumer sales will account for 72% of all U.S. wine sales in 2023, up from 68% in 2022, with in-store sales accounting for 11% and curbside sales accounting for 17%, according to the bank.
Of that 72%, e-commerce sales accounted for 8% of sales, the smallest share since 2016 and down 2 percentage points from 2022.
