When we think of holidays we associate with indulging in a few adult beverages, Mardi Gras is usually near the top of the list. And for good reason! Mardi Gras is often celebrated with alcohol, with the average person celebrating with about four and a half drinks on the day.
That means Mardi Gras is a key opportunity for liquor store owners. Liquor shops can cash in on the holiday. How? Simple! By offering promotions to encourage people to stock up for their annual celebrations at your store.
When you equip and apply creative alcohol marketing strategies in your store, you can enjoy an immediate sales spike and win lasting customer loyalty from your new customers. In other words, the right Mardi Gras marketing ideas can help your store become the go-to place for your ideal customers’ liquor needs year-round.
In this article, we’ll provide some ideas to kick-start your carnival season.
Mardi Gras Marketing Ideas To Ring in the Festivities
Mardi Gras is a unique holiday known for its colorful parades, vibrant music… and flowing drinks. As a liquor store operator, you can capitalize on the weeks building up to Fat Tuesday with liquor promotions that help increase basket sizes.
The demand spikes across spirit categories make Mardi Gras an ideal time to showcase specialty offerings. Impulse purchasing also accelerates as shoppers stock up on party ingredients and gifts for parties and other gatherings. The Mardi Gras mindset of celebrating and indulging lends itself to suggestive selling and other promotions in your store.
When preparing for parties this time of year, customers may be more willing to trade their usual mid-shelf options for premium liquors. Don’t miss this opportunity to highlight top-shelf spirits and unique liquors to capitalize on this attitude. Limited vintage offerings, gift baskets, and distillery gift sets can all boost basket sizes and keep customers in the spirit of the holiday.
Related Read: 4 Alcohol Marketing Guidelines You Need To Be Aware Of
Armed with this knowledge of why Mardi Gras is such a promising opportunity for your liquor store, let’s examine some creative alcohol marketing and promotional ideas you might consider to drive more traffic and sales this winter.
1. Host Local Events
One way to market your store around Mardi Gras is to host local events tied to the holiday. Consider offering prizes for the best Mardi Gras costumes or outfits and allow customers to have their photos taken in-store. You can then display these photos on social media to capitalize on the online and in-person buzz.
Related Read: 8 Ways To Build Your Liquor Store's Online Presence
You may also consider partnering with local musical talent. Partner with neighborhood bands or solo musicians to put on pop-up performances in or outside your store during peak nights during this holiday season. Partnering with local musicians spotlights your support of your local community while drawing in passersby with upbeat tunes.
2. Create Festive Mardi Gras Gift Baskets
You can also capitalize on this party season by assembling seasonal gift and party baskets. Include items like masks, beads, festive napkins, and specialty spirits or cocktail ingredient kits. Design options around different spirit types or specialty beverages, giving customers a ready-made party kit or host gift.
Creating baskets is convenient for customers, giving them everything they need in one package. These gift baskets also benefit your store by creating a larger purchase total than they might rack up pulling together only the spirits they came into the store for.
Pro tip: You can use a robust point of sale (POS) system with mix and match pricing features to easily track your gift baskets and regular inventory side-by-side.
3. Partner With Ride-Sharing Services
Another opportunity for liquor stores during major holidays like Mardi Gras is partnering with ride-sharing services. Working with Lyft or Uber to provide discount codes for trips within a set distance encourages locals to come to your store for mid-party restocks, while promoting your store as a responsible community member. This tactic fosters goodwill through safe transportation — all while driving more holiday sales.
Maximize your return on investment by pairing perks with defined purchase thresholds, so ride-sharing discounts activate after shoppers spend minimum basket sizes. Make sure customers know about your promotion by communicating through email and social channels to get the word out.
4. Decorate the Store for Mardi Gras
Another way to spark customers’ excitement for the holiday is by outfitting your store with signature Mardi Gras decorations.
Decorate windows and endcaps with pictures of parade floats, strings of purple beads, gold tinsel, and string lights. Including these elements in your store in the weeks leading up to Mardi Gras helps customers remember the upcoming holiday, encouraging them to stock up on supplies to help them celebrate.
Related Read: 7 Liquor Display Ideas To Maximize Liquor Store Sales
You can also set up a designated photo-op space, encouraging customers to take pictures in your store and share them on social media. These social posts help spread the word about your store’s Mardi Gras offerings and may introduce new customers to your store through this organic, user-generated content.
5. Launch a Mardi Gras Cocktail Competition
Many party enthusiasts have a drink recipe they’re proud of. Capitalize on this by giving local mixologists the opportunity to show off their signature Mardi Gras cocktails! Run a contest where customers can submit cocktails made from featured spirits offered at your store. Then, market the contest through community channels and award the winners with gift cards, spirits, or prize baskets.
Related Read: 3 Top Liquor Store Promotional Ideas
After the contest, create a custom bundle for the winning cocktail recipe. Print up recipe cards crediting your winner and giving other customers the opportunity to make this cocktail themselves with ingredients from your store. Efforts like these build hype while increasing basket sizes.
6. Host Free Sample Nights
Free samples and tastings are a tried-and-true way to draw new traffic and increase the likelihood of impulse buys. Tie this marketing tactic with the Mardi Gras holiday by bringing in a mixologist to offer mini Hurricanes, Sazeracs, or other festive drinks on the weekend before Mardi Gras Tuesday.
Create festive endcap displays near your tasting stations with all the spirits and ingredients included in the free sample cocktail, giving visitors the opportunity to easily grab the fixings they need to keep the party going at home.
7. Distribute Mardi Gras Decorations
Finally, you can get customers in the Mardi Gras spirit by distributing freebies related to the holiday to all shoppers. Give away Mardi Gras beads, masks, or trinkets to shoppers who hit certain basket sizes. The more they spend, the cooler freebies they get! This tactic incentivizes bigger purchases to unlock better giveaways. You can display all the prize options at your register to encourage last-minute add-ons.
Related Read: 6 Liquor Store Ideas for Customer Satisfaction
Pair these giveaways with store decorations and photo-op spaces so customers can wear their freebies immediately, allowing you to capture social content of delighted shoppers.
Preparing for Mardi Gras Right With Mardi Gras Marketing Ideas
Mardi Gras season is all about celebrating and bringing the party with you. Liquor store owners are uniquely positioned to capitalize on this energy to get people pouring through the doors to prepare for their annual bashes. Festive marketing is great for getting customers excited and in the spirit.
But are you ready to handle the influx of customers your new marketing efforts bring into your store?
That's where having the right point of sale system comes in. You’ll need liquor-store-specific features like seamless age verification, case break inventory management, and speedy checkouts. Bottle POS is a point of sale solution designed specifically for liquor stores and wine shops — if anyone can help you handle the Mardi Gras mayhem, year after year, it’s us.
Schedule a free software demo of Bottle POS to see how our solution can speed up checkout processes and help you manage customer outreach and marketing efforts today.
