Jordan Bass, Co-Founder and CEO of Hop Wtr, shares how he set out to create a calorie-free beer-alternative that consumers can look forward to enjoying that still offered a functional benefit beyond what sparkling waters and non-alcoholic beers deliver today. As the previous head of Ecommerce of Fiji Water, Jordan shares how he leveraged Ecommerce and various partnerships to grow his brand to be in over 1,000 retail stores in less than 2 years.

On today’s business audio masterclass, Jordan shares the exact gap in the market he noticed and has filled with Hop Wtr, his process behind formulating and validating his new product and his best growth strategies.

Newsletter l Podcast l Free Resources 

https://hopwtr.com/ – Check out Hop Wtr.

1. When conducting product surveys (especially with friends and family), avoid asking for feedback when you are directly in front of them to get more honest feedback (nobody likes to hurt your feelings!)

2. Creating digital assets early before your official product launch can not only allow you to start capturing the emails of customers who are interested and invested in your product, but can also help you fine tune your marketing and message for your official launch.

3. Running out of product is dangerous for any business. You may lose you customers and shelf space, and replacing any product on short notice will cost you more.

[3.30] Jordan started Hop Wtr because he realized that there was no alternative to beers which were zero calories that had the right taste and decided to fill it that gap in the market. Even non-alcoholic beer has sugar and calories inside and this was an issue that Jordan noticed.

[7.50] Jordan added adaptogens and nootropics to include some functional benefits to Hop Wtr to help consumers relax without the bad effects of alcohol. Hop Wtr also places an emphasis on hops which have functional (such as improving sleep) and medicinal benefits.

[10.05] Jordan suggests documenting and stating very clearly what are the specifications and parameters of what you want to create in a product so that it is clear what you are trying to achieve when working formulators and partners. Working with someone near to him physical was a big factor when it came to choosing a partner to work with to help reduce lead time and shipping time.

[15.30] To market test his product, Jordan created a systematic way to reach out to others to test the product. He made sure he was not present when they tested the product to get feedback that is more honest. He also has works with an internal group and general population consumers to get a balanced perspective when developing new flavours.

[18.00] Jordan was previously the head of Ecommerce of Fiji Water. One of the biggest takeaways for him was the need to constantly have a pipeline of tests and to monitor the data closely.

[20.20] Ecommerce forms over 50% of the business of Hop Wtr today. One major benefit was the ability to launch digital assets to capture emails before the physical product was even ready to understand what the customers really wanted and to hone the messaging.

[24.00] Jordan shares the various Ecommerce partners Hop Wtr is working with.

[25.00] Hop Wtr has grown to be in over 1,000 retail outlets in under 2 years. Hop Wtr was proactive with its expansion and it used its direct to consumer data and overlaid that with population data.

[31.25] Hop Wtr currently has 4 main flavours on the market, with the lime flavor being just newly launched.

[32.50] Hop Wtr works with co-packing partner today to get its product out into the market. Jordan shares how he chose a good co-packing partner. Jordan shares that it is important to make sure that business partners should be aligned with you on the values that you have. It is also important to understand that you may have several different partners as the company grows, so don’t limit yourself.

[37.00] Hop Wtr has consistently sold out its product and Jordan shares the problem that this causes. Apart from the high cost of replacing product at such short notice, customers can get disappointed and may end up with a competitor instead.

[40.00] Hop Wtr is counter seasonal to beer especially in January as alcohol consumers are looking to stay away from alcohol in January as a growing trend.

Jordan Bass, Co-Founder and CEO of Hop Wtr, shares how he set out to create a calorie-free beer-alternative that consumers can look forward to enjoying that still offered a functional benefit beyond what sparkling waters and non-alcoholic beers deliver today. As the previous head of Ecommerce of Fiji Water, Jordan shares how he leveraged Ecommerce and various partnerships to grow his brand to be in over 1,000 retail stores in less than 2 years.
On today’s business audio masterclass, Jordan shares the exact gap in the market he noticed and has filled with Hop Wtr, his process behind formulating and validating his new product and his best growth strategies.

Newsletter l Podcast l Resources 

https://hopwtr.com/ – Check out Hop Wtr.

1. When conducting product surveys (especially with friends and family), avoid asking for feedback when you are directly in front of them to get more honest feedback (nobody likes to hurt your feelings!)

2. Creating digital assets early before your official product launch can not only allow you to start capturing the emails of customers who are interested and invested in your product, but can also help you fine tune your marketing and message for your official launch.

3. Running out of product is dangerous for any business. You may lose you customers and shelf space, and replacing any product on short notice will cost you more.

[3.30] Jordan started Hop Wtr because he realized that there was no alternative to beers which were zero calories that had the right taste and decided to fill it that gap in the market. Even non-alcoholic beer has sugar and calories inside and this was an issue that Jordan noticed.

[7.50] Jordan added adaptogens and nootropics to include some functional benefits to Hop Wtr to help consumers relax without the bad effects of alcohol. Hop Wtr also places an emphasis on hops which have functional (such as improving sleep) and medicinal benefits.

[10.05] Jordan suggests documenting and stating very clearly what are the specifications and parameters of what you want to create in a product so that it is clear what you are trying to achieve when working formulators and partners. Working with someone near to him physical was a big factor when it came to choosing a partner to work with to help reduce lead time and shipping time.

[15.30] To market test his product, Jordan created a systematic way to reach out to others to test the product. He made sure he was not present when they tested the product to get feedback that is more honest. He also has works with an internal group and general population consumers to get a balanced perspective when developing new flavours.

[18.00] Jordan was previously the head of Ecommerce of Fiji Water. One of the biggest takeaways for him was the need to constantly have a pipeline of tests and to monitor the data closely.

[20.20] Ecommerce forms over 50% of the business of Hop Wtr today. One major benefit was the ability to launch digital assets to capture emails before the physical product was even ready to understand what the customers really wanted and to hone the messaging.

[24.00] Jordan shares the various Ecommerce partners Hop Wtr is working with.

[25.00] Hop Wtr has grown to be in over 1,000 retail outlets in under 2 years. Hop Wtr was proactive with its expansion and it used its direct to consumer data and overlaid that with population data.

[31.25] Hop Wtr currently has 4 main flavours on the market, with the lime flavor being just newly launched.

[32.50] Hop Wtr works with co-packing partner today to get its product out into the market. Jordan shares how he chose a good co-packing partner. Jordan shares that it is important to make sure that business partners should be aligned with you on the values that you have. It is also important to understand that you may have several different partners as the company grows, so don’t limit yourself.

[37.00] Hop Wtr has consistently sold out its product and Jordan shares the problem that this causes. Apart from the high cost of replacing product at such short notice, customers can get disappointed and may end up with a competitor instead.

[40.00] Hop Wtr is counter seasonal to beer especially in January as alcohol consumers are looking to stay away from alcohol in January as a growing trend.