How to Make Your Liquor Store More Successful
Elif Oztuna
The liquor industry is growing very rapidly, and in this competitive industry, it's not easy to be ahead of the competitors. In the past, if your liquor store was on a busy street and had the right amount of inventory, you would have probably been fine. However, now, many other elements are factored into success. Here are five tips to improve your store’s success.
Selling backbar products
Most of the liquor stores miss the opportunity to sell backbar products like cocktail making accessories, garnish, bitters and sauces. Stocking up your store as a convenient one-stop-shop for liquor enthusiasts will increase your number of customers. Taking it one level up, you can even prepare cocktail recipe booklets, place them in relevant aisles and guide your customers on what they should buy to make specific cocktails.
Customer loyalty programs
Whether digitally or with loyalty cards, offering your customers rewards for spending a specific amount or visits at your business can increase customer loyalty. If you use a digital loyalty program by capturing your customers’ information during payment, you can also build up a physical address/e-mail database to send out newsletters and new campaign announcements.
Recommendations
It is important for you and your staff to have sufficient knowledge about liquor brands and types that you are selling. When a customer asks for advice on any liquor type, you have to do your best to give detailed information and present recommendations for best alternatives. Your customer might even ask for food pairings with his/her liquor selection, so be ready for matching drinks with specific food items.
Special orders
At Garvey Wholesale Beverage, our goal is the ultimate customer satisfaction. If you are looking for an item that we don't carry in our regular stock, we can place a special order for you. By offering to take special orders from your customers, you can gain a larger customer base, observe which items are in high demand, and add new products to your standard inventory.
Licenses
As a liquor store, an off-premise license is undoubtedly your priority and you can keep doing business with this single license. However, other types of licenses can change the path of your store, create new business opportunities and bring more customers. Here is more information about California alcohol licenses on this link: https://www.abc.ca.gov/permits/permits.html