The LCBO will be making a minor change to the current weekly beer submission process impacting all domestic and import brewers in the LCBO (including grocery/convenience) and The Beer Store (TBS) channels. Effective May 31, 2021 brewers submitting a retail price change request will be required to provide a valid LCBO and/or TBS SKU number on their beer submission form. This change in process will ensure greater accuracy with price change requests, improve processing timelines, and enhance the reporting data shared between the LCBO, TBS, and our suppliers.
Over the past 4 months the LCBO has collaborated with TBS and brewers to confirm assortments and associated SKU numbers. Brewers SKU numbers can be set up under one of the three following scenarios*:
LCBO exclusive –only have assigned LCBO 6-digit SKU number
TBS exclusive –only have assigned TBS 7-digit SKU number
Shared SKU –have both LCBO and TBS SKU numbers assigned if in both channels
*products can move from channel to channel and have SKU numbers added/removed
During the week of April 19 the LCBO will be sending each brewer a copy of their full assortment including the associated LCBO and/or TBS SKU numbers based on the channel(s) SKUs are sold in as noted above. If any SKU data or SKU numbers appear to be incorrect or you have questions regarding this data, please contact pricing@lcbo.com for investigation. Any questions regarding data integrity must be raised with the LCBO pricing team by May 7, 2021 for investigation and correction if required.
The LCBO pricing team would like to invite brewers to partake in a soft launch of this new process starting for submissions on May 3. 2021. During this soft launch brewers are encouraged to ask any questions and provide feedback regarding the new process while using the new submission form and associated SKU numbers. Brewers can also submit their price change requests using the old beer submission form if desired during this time. On May 31, 2021 all beer submissions will be required on the new beer submission form, filled in correctly using the appropriate SKU numbers. Failure to comply with this process can result in submissions being rejected.
The beer submission form has been modified to provide additional helpful content, this form can be found here. *As noted above, please use this from for May 31, 2021 submissions onwards* Additional information on requirements for filling out the new beer submission form can be found in our Beer Submission form Helpful Guidelines.. You asked – we listened! the LCBO will also be providing all weekly SKU data in excel format to brewers who submitted a price change request, instead of the current PDF version. The new excel format will be sorted by the current weekly request on top and provide brewers with a snapshot of their current pricing portfolios and associated pricing variables for ease of analysis.
The current weekly timelines for submissions remain unchanged, all submissions are due on Mondays by 4pm for retail effective date two Mondays later (unless otherwise noted or due to holidays). Imported beer quote letters are still required as per standard, and price change communication timelines remain unchanged. For additional information on weekly beer submission process please visit our Weekly Beer Submission Helpful Tips page.
If you have any questions regarding this change in process, please contact pricing@lcbo.com.
Thank you for your continued support.
Kyle Baker, Manager, Pricing Administration
CC: Abhay Garg, Vice President, Merchandising