The Full Pour: Recapping the Bottle POS Retail Liquor Summit 2026

As a lead into the busiest season in liquor, Bottle POS held its first annual Retail Liquor Summit on September 30th. With over 200 liquor store owners in attendance, the summit was an exciting chance for store owners, experts, and vendors to share their experiences.

Led by Bottle POS founder Kevin Patel and VP of product Spence Hoffman, the session covered topics like:

• The biggest economic trends to watch in independent liquor
• The importance of basket size and how to upsell customers
• How NA fits into the big picture and trends to take advantage of
• Tips for boosting cash flow and reducing dead stock

… and much more.

Here are some key takeaways from this year’s summit.

1. The State of Liquor Retail

The first part of the summit addressed the elephant in the room: How are liquor stores doing in the wake of rising prices, changing drinking habits, and other big changes?

We looked at anonymized sales data from real stores to find out.

Sales were down in Q4 of 2025, traditionally liquor’s biggest months.

In the Bottle POS report released at the start of 2026, we found that sales in November and December were down, with basket sizes and total sales volume taking a hit.

But it’s not all bad news. As of July, the downturn eased and partially reversed. However, sales of premium, top-shelf bottles are down across the board and wines, usually a staple, are hit and miss.

The key, according to Kevin, is to know your customers.

2. Getting More From Existing Customers

The liquor industry is changing and more stores are fighting for a smaller pool of customers. So, what should liquor stores do? Instead of trying to drive up more foot traffic, store owners need to focus more on boosting basket sizes for existing customers.

Here are some things you can do this week to upsell customers:

• Find the 20% of your shelf that pays the rent — make it unmissable.
• Lead with RTDs and tequila. Lne up whiskey, wine, and vodka behind them.
• Test NA canned cocktails before new NA spirits or beer.
• Re-anchor prices where you can, leave the rest alone.
• Pick a weekly cadence to review sales data and adjust. Find a cadence your team can catch up with.

Ravi Patel, owner of Venice Liquor and Wine weighed in here, telling us that pushing products that make you the most money isn’t the goal. He notes that if you recommend a so-so bottle, customers won’t trust your judgement in the future and won’t come back.

So, in addition to these tips, focus on storytelling. Train your staff on the stories behind the premium bottles, not just the price point. Features like Bottle POS’ AI Cashier Assistant (more on that below), are an invaluable training tool for getting a deeper understanding of the bottles on your shelves.

3. New Opportunities in NA

(Image source: Ritual Zero Proof)

Nonalcoholic (NA) options have been around for a long time, but they’re a lot more popular than they used to be — and everyone from big brands to startups are jumping on board the NA train.

Until recently, NA beer was the big seller. Not anymore. Ravi noticed that more and more of his customers ask about NA cocktail options, in particular. That said, NA sales have been incremental, not explosive. There are simply too many new products on the market to have a firm understanding of what consumers like and don’t like.

In the past, we’ve recommended mixing your NA and alcoholic options together, especially since the majority of NA buyers also drink alcohol. However, as more people come to liquor stores specifically looking for NA options, Kevin and Ravi suggest having a dedicated section for NA merchandise might be a better strategy.

Here’s another thing to keep in mind as you ramp up NA sales: Unlike spirits, NA products don’t have an infinite shelf life. Most go bad after a year or two, so it’s important to track expiration dates and adjust your marketing and ordering accordingly.

4. The Importance of Inventory Management

When asked what the single most important aspect of day-to-day operations was, all the panelists were in agreement: inventory management.

Setting up a digital inventory management system isn’t always easy — but once done, it can make a major difference in cutting costs and decision making.

Once your inventory and sales are fully connected, you can then use tools like AI-powered smart reordering to further rightsize vendor orders and keep more cash on hand.

One store owner in the chat asked about a real example: How do you deal with declining wine sales and an overabundance of dead stock? Ravi and Kevin recommended using inventory reports and automated ranking to identify brands to put on clearance, or start selling by the case for a bulk discount.

Tasting events (if your state allows) are another great way to move dead stock. Kevin noted how surprised he’s been at the success of holding tasting events for dead or slow-moving items.

5. Bottle POS’ Newest AI-Powered Features

During a product-focused session, product developer Andrew Russo came on to talk about some of the new features coming to Bottle POS. In particular, he was excited to highlight the AI-powered features that help reduce time spent on data entry and other tedious tasks.

Here are the standouts.

6. Holiday Marketing Tips and Tools

In the next session, Bottle POS Marketing Manager Megan Cagigas shared helpful tools and tips for marketing your liquor store during the busy season.

That said, we know how busy liquor store owners are in the holiday season. As a result, we created a new Bottle POS Holiday Marketing Playbook, which includes:

• Month-by-month to-do lists
• Ready-to-customize SMS and email messages
• Social post generators
• Canva templates for visuals

Megan particularly emphasized the effectiveness of SMS marketing for liquor stores. She notes that, unlike other businesses where people might get annoyed at receiving marketing messages they don’t remember signing up for, liquor customers must actively opt in to text message marketing, meaning they want to receive offers from you.

Last, setting up a customer loyalty program is an easy and effective way to keep your store top of mind.

7. Crucial Vendor Integrations

We then heard from several vendors, including DoorDash and Fintech, who highlighted the benefits of connecting with liquor-specific POS systems like Bottle POS.

Bottle POS customers have had some big wins by connecting with DoorDash, and the speakers from DoorDash note that 64% of alcohol orders on DoorDash come from independent operators, not chains.

Next, Fintech presented how the integration with Bottle POS helps drastically reduce store owner’s time spent on invoicing.

Case Study: See how Orange Wine & Spirits boosted sales by 63% by connecting to DoorDash

8. Tips on Mastering Social Media

The last session of the day featured Cory Weigel, owner of PJ’s Liquor Store, who amassed over 90,000 followers documenting his journey of opening a liquor store. When he started PJ’s Liquor Store, he wondered why anyone should shop at his store over the competition.

This idea fueled his content, and generated real business for his store. But he notes that wading into social should be done with care, not on a whim.

Here are some social media tips from the session.

• Social media has advantages that other mediums don’t — but it can be harder to break into. If you plan on using social media, it needs to be done consistently.
• Double down on what makes you unique. Instead of just highlighting a few bottles and products, focus more on the culture of your store to encourage people to root for you.
• Focus on social media as its own business, not an afterthought. Plan your posts and think through your strategy. Doing social wrong can hurt more than not doing it at all.
• Value your staff. Having a plugged in and engaged staff helps create a strong store culture, and that’s something that translates well to social media. (Staff who are invested are also great for generating ideas.)
• Post videos you genuinely enjoy, not just ones you think will get sales. Building a following on social media is a slow and steady process, and if you aren’t passionate about what you’re doing, it won’t work.

If there’s one takeaway about creating truly effective social media, it's this: At the end of the day, everyone claims to have lower prices or good offers, so he turned to his experience as a social media creator to change things around.

See the Full Bottle POS Liquor Retail Summit on Demand

A lot is changing in liquor retail. There are more stores fighting for less customers (and many of those customers are drinking less). To stay successful, independent liquor stores need to keep a closer eye on their numbers and find new ways to connect with customers.

The key isn’t to bring in more customers, it’s getting more from the customers you already have. This means building customer loyalty, curating your selection, and finding innovative marketing strategies.

Watch the full, on-demand recording to get even more insights. O to see what Bottle POS can do for your store, schedule a demo today.