Liquor store promotional items are a fun way for customers to get their hands on unique product bundles, exclusive bottles, and merchandise. They’re also a great way to show off your creativity and expertise in a way that traditional promotions like coupons can’t.
Looking for some liquor store promotional item ideas to spark customer interest and boost sales? Look no further.
Here are five unique ideas for promotional items that will keep your customers coming back for more.
Why Regular Promotions Are Good for Business
You may already have a great selection and customer service and wonder if it’s worth it to spend the time and effort on promotional items. Think of promotional items as a splash of cold water on a hot day — they’re a refreshing wake-up call for your existing customers and an opportunity to entice new ones in for a look.
Beyond building and retaining your customer base, creating unique liquor store promotional items is an effective method for upselling and establishing your brand.
Last, promotional items are, by their very nature, short-term offers, which can spur your customers into making a quick purchase decision before time runs out. By creating fun and unique offers regularly, you’ll encourage customers to keep coming back to see what’s new.
Related Read: What's the Best POS for Liquor Store Promotions?
Liquor Store Promotional Items: 5 Ideas
Typical liquor store promotions include discount coupons, wine tastings, or even limited-time bonus points as part of customer loyalty programs. To be clear: these are also great strategies.
Liquor store promotional items, on the other hand, are more tangible and personalized. They offer a chance to show off your knowledge and curate items that customers may not consider otherwise.
Here are five ideas to get you started:
1. Cocktail Bundles
With inflation putting the squeeze on their wallets, many people are opting to skip the bar and make cocktails at home instead. The home cocktail market grew substantially during the pandemic and remains popular. Many brands are also creating more ready to drink (RTD) cocktails as well.
Show off your knowledge by sharing cocktail recipes and selling all of the ingredients as a cocktail bundle. You could create several different options for different spirits (one for an Old Fashioned, one for a Negroni, etc.) or bundle enough for customers to try several cocktail variations with a single spirit. When selling bundles, make sure to send customers home with a card containing the recipe.
Cocktail bundles can be easily set up as custom product bundles in your point of sale (POS) system. You could also customize bundles further by offering a discount to current loyalty club members, encouraging new sign-ups in the process.
Pro tip: Use your POS system to track sales data and find your top sellers so you can be confident in offering cocktails that your customers will love.
2. Aging Barrels
Small one- to three-liter oak barrels for aging spirits and cocktails are popular. They’re an attractive and fun set piece for the home bar and allow people to indulge in some unique mixology experiments.
You could sell barrels on their own or create recipes to sell bundles. The important part is educating customers on how to use them. Giving them in-person advice and written instructions will make it less intimidating (and give you a chance to sell them on some cocktails in the process).
Because barrel-aged cocktails are made in batches, you have a prime opportunity to make a large sale of liquor along with the barrel itself. Make sure to tailor your store displays to show the barrels along with some educational signs to pique customers’ interest.
3. Local Spotlights
Many people enjoy the friendly atmosphere and curated selection of a local liquor store. Partnering with other local businesses can enhance that feeling while boosting profits.
Highlight bottles from local breweries and distilleries on your shelves and offer rotating, short-term discounts on local brands. To generate more interest, you could create signage to educate people on the featured breweries and distilleries. Make sure to also highlight these items on your website and social media.
Pro tip: Use your POS system to help run events (tastings, cocktail-making classes, etc.), drum up interest with sign-ups, and verify everyone’s age to make sure you’re legally compliant.
Some distilleries are happy to partner with local liquor stores to offer exclusive bottles with unique labels tailored to your store. These are limited by nature and a great way to promote both the distillery and your business.
Many liquor stores also offer bar snacks and charcuterie. Instead of offering big-brand items, you should partner with local supermarkets and farms. Make sure any food items are prominently displayed near a register to lure people in before they checkout.
4. Bottles From Around the World
Liquor stores offer a wide selection of global products, such as Scottish whisky, Japanese saké, and French wines. To encourage people to try something outside their comfort zone, create promotions centered around bottles from different parts of the world.
Construct displays that feature different bottles from a particular country or region, tasting notes, and other fun facts. Offer a short-term discount on select bottles or offer a buy one get one free promotion.
Who knows? You might just turn someone on to their new favorite bottle.
Pro tip: Make sure your inventory system supports unlimited SKUs and case breaking to ensure your short-term promotions don’t make your day-to-day more complex.
5. Bar Tools and Glassware
Liquor stores sell beer, wine, and liquor, as well as alcohol merchandise that encourages impulse buys, such as shakers, strainers, and glassware. Many people don’t go to a liquor store intending to buy bar tools, but being around them may entice customers to make a purchase.
Try to make it so customers have to pass through your accessories and merchandise area on their way to more popular items. That way, they might just stop and look even if they’re just in for a brief purchase. You can also organize items by type or bundle items together (for example, a cocktail-making set) to encourage upselling.
In combination with some of the other cocktail-related promotions mentioned above, you could offer discounts on certain glassware when buying a cocktail set. For example, you could offer a coupe glass with a Manhattan cocktail set. Many people love having a fully stocked home bar, so make it as easy as possible for them to build it out.
Use Your POS System for Easy Liquor Store Promotional Items
Hopefully, you’ll walk away from this article with some great ideas for liquor store promotional items.
But remember, a promotion is only effective if people know about it. Make sure to include your promotions in your marketing strategy, whether it’s through email, SMS, a newsletter, social media, or all of the above.
To make your ideas a reality, use a liquor store POS system that’s flexible enough to accommodate custom product bundles and discounts. This way, you’ll only have to spend your time setting up the promotion, and not manually entering it every time you make a sale.
Bottle POS is specifically designed to empower liquor stores of all sizes to delight their customers and boost sales. Our system comes loaded with powerful features that enable you to run successful promotions, such as:
- Unlimited SKUs and custom product bundles
- Customizable customer loyalty programs
- Flexible discounts
- E-commerce integrations
- Dual pricing
…and more.
Schedule a demo today to learn how BottlePOS can enhance your promotions and boost sales.
