Retailer education

Educating retailers so that they sell alcohol responsibly.

Our programmes help to educate retailers so they do not serve alcohol to underage people or to those who are intoxicated.

Preventing underage alcohol sales in Poland

In Poland, our ‘Underage Access Denied!’ initiative educates retailers not to serve alcohol to underage people.

The programme consists of a comprehensive mix of education and server training at retail outlets and music festivals, as well as a series of 25 television programmes, produced in cooperation with National TV, that address the social problem of alcohol sales to minors.

The initiative has the support of experts, government and non-government institutions.

Respect 21: helping to prevent underage access to alcohol in the US

Created in partnership with Dr Brad Krevor of Brandeis University and with the help of local distributors, ‘Respect 21’ gets retailers engaged in improving their efforts not to sell alcohol to underage customers.

The programme was first piloted in two Wisconsin cities, and has now been expanded to 13 states.

Retailers are given evidence-based training materials to help them fill gaps in their current policies and practices. Younger mystery shoppers of legal age are then sent in to purchase alcohol. The mystery shoppers evaluate how well the staff did in asking for and validating their proof of age. They provide on-the-spot feedback, and a performance evaluation is sent to the owner.

Improvements have been seen in every city where the programme has been conducted. In Miami, there was a 100% increase in the number of times clerks requested proof of age. In New York, pass rates increased from 67% in the first quarter of the programme to 89%.

Discouraging sales to intoxicated customers in South Africa

‘The Responsible Trader’ teaches tavern and shabeen owners how to detect behavioural cues of customers who have had too much to drink.

The training material is interactive and picture-based to accommodate differences in language and literacy skills.

We can all be parents

In recent years underage drinking has become a major concern for Colombian society. As the country’s largest brewer, SABMiller’s Colombian subsidiary, Bavaria, launched a campaign called “Todos podemos ser padre” (“We can all be parents”) in January 2006.

The campaign’s purpose was to persuade retailers not to sell alcohol to minors. Conducted in partnership with the national retail federation, FENALCO, the country-wide media campaign was supported by point-of-sale materials and training for retailers. A central aim of the campaign was to enforce the laws against selling alcohol to underage people. The national police played an important part in taking the campaign forward.

With further support from the city’s mayor, the results were apparent in the capital, Bogotá, within a year. Other local governments are now becoming involved as the campaign extends to different regions of the country.

Helping prevent beer sales to underage people in Colombia

‘Todos podemos ser padres’ (‘We can all be parents’) encourages retailers and customers to be vigilant about underage drinking – just as any concerned parent would be if they were present.

Retail staff, managers and owners receive training, and the message is reinforced through a variety of marketing materials.