SelfmadeBier
Overview
SelfmadeBier was an early D2C venture founded before K&S German Equity GmbH was established.
The business marketed and sold home beer brewing kits directly to consumers through its own online shop, while fulfilment was handled through an external supplier.
Customer acquisition, brand development, sales, customer relationships and commercial responsibility remained fully with the business.
Market: Germany
Sales Chanel: D2C Website
Scope: D2C Brand Building & Creative Marketing
Status: Discontinued
The Challange
The asset-light fulfilment model reduced inventory requirements, but it also limited control over the product, pricing and underlying commercial structure.
Since the supplier sold the same products directly in the market, pricing had to remain broadly aligned and there was little room to create differentiation through the product itself.
At the same time, customer disputes, payment reversals and supplier obligations remained with the business, meaning commercial responsibility could not simply be outsourced.
The opportunity was therefore primarily on the demand-generation side.
While the supplier had an established product offering, its social media presence and paid acquisition were relatively limited. SelfmadeBier focused on building its own brand presentation and using social media advertising to reach customers the supplier was not actively targeting, creating differentiation through marketing and customer acquisition rather than through the underlying product.
Our Role
SelfmadeBier was operated as a direct-to-consumer venture with full responsibility for brand development, customer acquisition and the commercial relationship with customers.
While the underlying products and fulfilment were provided by an external supplier, we managed the customer-facing side of the business. From positioning and online presentation to advertising, sales and customer communication.
Our role was therefore to create demand and build a differentiated consumer proposition around products we did not control directly, while managing the commercial risks and limitations that came with the supplier-led model.
Our Work
We built the customer-facing side of SelfmadeBier from the ground up, with a strong focus on creative-driven customer acquisition. This included developing the brand, building the online store, creating product imagery, producing video content and running the brand’s social media presence across channels such as Instagram.
Paid social was a central part of the model. We developed and tested different creatives, messaging angles and video formats to identify what resonated with customers and used campaign performance to continuously refine the content and acquisition approach. Alongside this, we managed the sales process, customer communication and coordination with the fulfilment partner.
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Current Status
SelfmadeBier has since been discontinued.
The venture was intentionally closed after providing valuable hands-on experience in D2C brand building, paid customer acquisition and operating a supplier-fulfilled eCommerce model. While the business is no longer active, the lessons around demand generation, customer ownership and commercial risk continue to inform how we approach new ventures and expansion projects today.
What We Took Forward
The venture is no longer active, but the experience continues to shape how we approach D2C growth, creative testing, paid social and customer ownership across current projects.
