Nectar hard seltzer owes much of its success to TikTok and texting. 

The hard seltzer brand started posting its company phone number on TikTok, asking potential customers to text if they were interested in buying a case. The brand ended up receiving hundreds of responses, which was enough to convince retailers who had previously dismissed the beverage to begin selling it in their stores.   

That was in 2020. The alcoholic beverage space has only become more competitive since then, especially in the once-hot hard seltzer segment which has slowed down of late after countless brands entered the market. Nectar continues to use its direct line to its customer base, which it developed early on, to continue to grow sales. 

Co-founder Jeremy Kim started with one case of Nectar, going door-to-door to 200 stores in Los Angeles pitching the drink. They all turned him down. Having seen the quick impact TikTok had on the music industry, Kim wondered if the same reach could be achieved for Nectar. In November 2020, he made a video explaining the challenges the company had faced and asked folks to text them if they would be willing to even try the drink.

The response was overwhelming, and eventually helped land Nectar in 1,500 stores including Target, Whole Foods, BevMo and 7-Eleven.

Nectar has kept up the texting, both as a way to find where customers are geographically and for feedback. The brand started its retail journey with one-off “drops.” Kim would make a TikTok video aimed at potential customers in, say, San Diego, and if 300 people texted that they would buy a case of Nectar, the brand would find a local store and convince the retailer to stock the drink. 

As the brand expanded, customers used the number to give product feedback. “Our recipe has drastically improved since the first release,” said Kim. He added that he has seen TikTok comments of early customers who didn’t like the taste, and he encourages them to try the latest flavors.

The alcoholic beverage industry is an increasingly crowded space, and brands are pushing to keep hard seltzer in mind beyond the summer, usually a time associated with the beer alternative. Mtn Dew found a fan to marry the hard seltzer brand in Vegas, and Truly released an ad using fruit flies to plug the brand’s use of real fruit juice. Nectar’s direct line to its fan base has helped put it next to competing cans in 1,500 stores, sell over 2.5 million cans and launch a new passion fruit-orange-guava flavor.

“TikTok is the sole reason for us being here,” Kim said. “Even with the legal hoops of selling alcohol, the last month has driven tremendous e-commerce sales for us, and we’re blowing out of retail because of increased awareness.”

Kim started a new TikTok series for the brand called “Sale or Fail,” which records shoppers in grocery stores trying out the seltzer. Even with just 83,200 TikTok followers, several of the videos have received over a million views. Those face-to-face interactions are earning Nectar more new customers—one free sample at a time.