Kraft Heinz and AB InBev do an online deal

Buyers for retailers in Latin America will have online access to Kraft Mac & Cheese, Heinz Tomato Ketchup and other Kraft Heinz brands through the international and fast-growing BEES B2B online marketplace from AB InBev BEES will be a game-changer in Kraft Heinz’s efforts to expand globally.

The Kraft Heinz Co. will start out with sales to merchants in Mexico, Colombia and Peru, followed by expansion into Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Panama and other Latin American countries in an effort to “unlock 1 million potential new points of sale across LATAM,” Kraft Heinz and BEES said in a combined press release today.

Kraft Heinz expects its business through BEES to help grow its emerging markets strategy.

Rafa Oliveira, Kraft Heinz executive vice president and president of international markets, says the big CPG company expects BEES to be a “game-changer” in its efforts to expand globally. In the press release, he notes that selling on the BEES marketplace lets Kraft Heinz benefit from AB InBev’s distribution network, “particularly in countries where we have huge potential to grow, while also allowing us to customize our approach on a market-by-market basis serving the needs of regional retailers.”

Anheuser-Busch InBev developed BEES as an online B2B platform in 2019 to let retailers order from among AB InBev’s hundreds of brands, including global beer brands Budweiser, Corona and Stella Artois and many regional and local market brands.

But BEES recently opened its online platform to let other consumer packaged goods companies list their products within the BEES marketplace. BEES says it currently operates in 20 countries, including:

• Canada
• The United Kingdom
• China
• South Korea
• Several countries in Africa and Latin America

Overall, it notes that it has 3.1 million active monthly users and has processed more than $32 billion in gross merchandise sales.