These smart beer glasses will help you get drunk at a fraction of the price

Photo credit: Glassify.

The global alcoholic beverages market is worth a staggering US$1.2 trillion but largely depends on processes that have been set in stone for decades. It’s one of the biggest markets that has remained relatively impervious to tech disruption – little wonder that the industry is crawling along at a pitiful growth rate of approximately 2 percent year-on-year.

The problem is that while alcoholic drink manufacturers spend millions of dollars in advertising across the globe, they’re rarely able to optimize sales at places where it matters most – bars and pubs. For example they lack the nimbleness to offer flash sales and promotions based on real-time analytics.

That’s largely because bars exist offline. Breweries will get things like monthly sales reports but these won’t be able to tell them how much beer was consumed in a specific bar during a specific time frame. Some founders working on this problem argue that flash promotions can help increase sales by up to 32 percent.

No, not beer goggles

Enter Glassify. The Tel Aviv-based startup is building ‘smart glasses’ which pair with an app on your smartphone to offer users incentivized promotions and discounts.

How it works is fairly straightforward. Consumers order their drinks at the bar and are prompted to scan the glasses over their phones when served. The glasses have an NFC chip embedded at the bottom and work with any QR scanner. There’s no need to have the Glassify app pre-installed – it’ll prompt you to download it when you scan a compatible glass for the first time.

“There’s always an incentive for users to scan their glass,” explains Ben Biron, CEO of Glassify. “This could be things like a free drink, chaser, or a food combo.”

Glassify is a joint venture between Weisbeerger and Innovation Furnace. Tech in Asia profiled Weisbeerger in October, when it had closed its US$4 million series A.

Weisbeerger is trying to solve the same problem as Glassify by encouraging more sales and discounts but its approach is somewhat different. It works with breweries to help build ‘smart bars,’ by connecting them to a gizmo. That tracks sales and relays back analytics in real time to the brewery.

Pints for everybody

Ben says the smart glasses designed by Glassify aren’t only for use in bars connected to Weisbeerger’s engine. The partnership with Turkey-based Pasabahce, parent company of Innovation Furnace, came about after a mutual agreement to build a model that is inherently scalable.

How it works is that Weisbeerger handles things like big data, analytics, and software while Innovation Furnace takes care of the manufacturing. The end product is Glassify. Both companies have an equal share and funnel cash towards this project from existing reserves. So far they’ve invested US$250,000 in Glassify.

Ben explains that the bartender is a crucial piece in the puzzle as they essentially act as salesmen. When customers approach the bar to order drinks, the bartender asks whether they’d prefer a smart glass or regular one. There’s no difference in price.

For customers interested in smart glasses, the bartender will explain the process and get them on their way.