Kerala's Consumerfed to sell liquor online
- The Consumerfed will offer a facility to place online orders for Indian made foreign liquor.
- Initially, only 59 costly brands would be available online.
- The customers can place online orders, but will have to collect the bottle directly from the outlet.
FollowSoon after Kerala Excise Minister announced that the government was planning to distribute liquor through malls and supermarkets, Consumerfed, the apex body of the consumer Co-operatives in the state, has unveiled an ambitious plan to sell liquor online.
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Consumer Fed Chairman M Mehaboob on Thursday announced that the corporation’s decision to start online booking of liquor this Onam season. The facility will be available at 363 odd outlets of Consumerfed in the state. This will help increase the sales, he said.
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The move is aimed at reducing the serpentine queues in front of the liquor outlets of the state run Kerala Beverages Corporation and of Consumer fed. More than 59 brands of Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL) will be made available online.
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However, the facility does not have home delivery. The consumer can place the order online and will get a receipt on completing the purchase directly from the outlet. One could assign someone else to go and collect the bottle from the outlet by producing the online token.
Initially, the Consumerfed is planning to sell only the costly brands online, targeting the up market consumers.
The Consumerfed’s novel initiative follows the statement of Excise Minister T P Ramakrishnan that the government would take positive measures to reduce the hassles of consumers who are destined to stand in queue for hours in front of beverages outlets. The minister had announced that the government was planning to distribute liquor through malls and to open special liquor counters at supermarkets.
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The plans to open allow liquor counters at malls and to sell IMFL online mark a departure from the liquor policy adopted by the previous United Democratic Front (UDF) govt. that aimed at reducing the availability of liquor. The UDF government had also closed down more than 700 liquor bars in the state, forcing the alcohol consumers to depend more on the outlets of the state-run Beverages Corporation and the Consumer fed.
