Established in 2003, Sean Jowers started LIPS to track advertised alcohol prices while working as a category analyst at Montana Wines. There was no visibility of advertised pricing & promotions outside grocery. LIPS goal was to provide these insights across all sales channels.

Bringing data and insights together

There was some pricing and sales data available, but it was limited to just supermarkets (beer & wine) and it did not record ‘advertised’ prices from any print media. After researching interest from other liquor suppliers and retailers, Sean and a business partner developed a database and ad-wizard tool to start monitoring advertised prices from liquor chains and independent bottle stores, as well as supermarkets.

Initially, LIPS just monitored Beer, Wine and Spirits prices advertised in newpapers, mailers and circulars throughout New Zealand. However, as more and more clients started subscribing to the LIPS pricing data, the service expanded into monitoring website pricing from leading online liquor merchants. LIPS have also developed intuitive ‘chart-builder’ software to provide instant insights and market trends on pricing and promotion activity.

Keeping it "simple"

Today, clients use our data to measure the effectiveness of their pricing and promotion strategies against their competitors. It gives them useful insights into the marketplace, and better enables them to make informed decisions on adjusting their programs to maximize their sales performance.

Sean has spent over 20 years in the liquor industry, working for a number of suppliers in senior sales, analysis and marketing roles. He started his career in sales at Negociants NZ, and has worked for other leading companies including Burleigh Trading, Montana Wines, Allied Domecq and Yealands Wine Group.

Sean also co-owns and is a director of Luscious Slushi Ltd, with his wife Cara. In his spare time, Sean enjoys surfing, keeping fit, music and travelling. However, he is most relaxed on the couch with a glass of fine wine or a craft beer.