Which methods or tactics are most effective at increasing sales for liquor stores? If the answer to this question is elusive for you, you’re not alone.
There are certain business habits and operations that all successful liquor stores have in common. If you aren’t using these highly-effective tactics to increase sales, you may fall behind the competition and fail to bring in sales while your competitors profit.
POS Nation has been assisting wine and liquor store owners for years by providing an all-in-one point of sale (POS) software tailor-made for this industry and trusted by over 10,000 customers.
We’ve done our research on which methods, tactics, and promotions work best for skyrocketing sales while pleasing your customer base.
5 Surefire Methods to Increase Liquor Store Sales
Increasing sales is about more than inventory, pricing, and promotions. Good sales numbers start with knowing what your customers want and providing it in a way that surprises and delights them over and over.
Here at POS Nation, our goal is to help small business owners of liquor stores like yours better serve their customers. To get started doing just that, check out our roundup below of the five steps you can take to increase liquor store sales while still staying true to your business values and customers’ needs.
Related: 3 Top Liquor Store Promotional Ideas in 2021
1. Ramp Up Your Customer Loyalty Program
If you do nothing else, focus on this step first! Customers love loyalty programs, and it keeps them coming back for more. There are many ways to create loyalty programs such as one-time discounts, bundled discounts, point rewards, member-only sales, frequent shopper discounts, money back, and refer-a-friend bonuses.
The two main benefits of customer loyalty programs are overall customer experience improvement and the ability to get more insights into customer buying habits. By analyzing your customer loyalty program data, you can get to know your customers' buying habits and gauge what specials speak to them. If you have one loyalty program special that is a customer favorite, you can offer more specials similar to that or ramp up the marketing now that you know the program’s success rates through your POS software.
2. Offer Special Promotions
We’ve all heard “location, location, location,” but for liquor stores, it’s “specials, specials, specials.” Promotions and free samples are a profitable way to attract new customers and keep customer loyalty strong. We’ve seen how far free samples can enhance the customer experience in stores such as Costco, and the same goes for your liquor store.
The best part about offering special promotions and free samples is that it directly helps increase liquor store sales. In recent studies analyzing the relationship between free samples and sales performance, samples are reported to have a 25 to 30 percent conversion rate. To make this a reality for your liquor store, try creating a cocktail station where customers can taste test drinks and buy the ingredients right then and there. Other beneficial promotional ideas for your liquor store include BOGO sales, seasonal promotions, and liquor/food pairings.
When tracking the success of your special promotions, it’s important to have a POS system specialized for liquor stores. Using a point of sale system like POS Nation enables you to track inventory, sales, and promotion results so you can manage your operations seamlessly.
3. Partner with Local Businesses or Sponsor Local Events
When creating specials and promotions, it’s beneficial to collaborate with other local businesses to increase your business reach. By working together with other local businesses, you gain more exposure, make more impressions, and attract new customers.
Whether it’s a local outdoor marketplace, community event, or non-profit event, you’re supporting your community while increasing your brand awareness and recognition. If you’re planning on hosting your own local event, you can partner up with a “paint and sip” studio or even host cocktail-making classes to attract new customers to your location. Inside your liquor store, you can host a wine pairing event and even host taste-testing events.
4. Find Your Niche
Your customers’ preferences and buying habits drive your inventory and sales. But finding out what your customers like to purchase while discovering what works best for your business can be challenging.
Forbes breaks down the steps you need to take to find your perfect niche. These steps include finding niches you’re interested in as a business owner, surveying your target market, researching the competition, assessing potential profitability, and testing out your idea.
If you have a specific interest, such as local craft beers, and after some research, you find that your customers enjoy it as well, it may be lucrative to market your store as the place to get the best local IPAs. This helps attract your target demographic and position your business as the local expert in that area.
Taking a deep dive into your niche demographic helps bring fun, creative ideas to your business as well. For example, if you’re discovering that your IPA customers frequent a local hatchet-throwing bar, it may be worth it to host an event with that bar and offer new beer exclusively found at your store.
When you have a social media following, you can get even more creative targeting your niche demographic. Besides running targeted ads, you can create an account that links to your website where your customers can interact with your business. Try getting creative with your space and making an Instagram-worthy wall inside your business with a catchy saying. That would be a creative way to engage your mid-20s audience and gain more traction with your business through social platforms.
Once you find the interests your customers have, as well as a profitable niche for your business, the next step is to market your business accordingly and stay consistent with inventory. Don’t forget to have fun with it, and embrace new audiences that you may not have considered before.
5. Expand Your Inventory
If you carry the same old inventory that your neighboring competition does, customers may just visit them instead of you because there isn’t much difference. Liquor market revenue has been increasing at an average rate of almost two percent every year before 2021. A peek into the future shows that the industry will grow even more rapidly at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of over four percent through 2027. Customers are buying more liquor than ever before, and if your inventory volume and variety aren’t keeping up with demand, you could lose sales to stores that are adapting.
How to Increase Your Liquor Store Sales Profits Through Effective Inventory Management
Getting creative with your sales, promotions, and customer perks are great ways to increase liquor store sales. But it’s important not to forget the basics and start from the ground up with a quality POS software system. A POS system designed for use with wine, beer, and liquor stores — like POS Nation — will help you manage your inventory, customer interactions, sales, and promotions all in one place.
Our team of experts has helped thousands of liquor stores like you master small business management, increase sales, and create happier customers. If you’re looking for other ways to stand out among your competitors, check out The Guide to Liquor Store Inventory Management! You can also take our retail POS software, CAP Retail by POS Nation, for a spin by scheduling a free demo.
