“Drink less, but drink better.”
Some variation of this phrase keeps showing up in consumer research, social media, and, likely, in your sales data. Americans aren’t giving up alcohol, but they are changing how they buy it.
The numbers tell the story:
Yes, customers are drinking less often — but when they do drink, they spend more per bottle. As the saying goes, “quality over quantity.” Even if they don’t buy alcohol, shoppers still want something worth pouring.
For liquor retailers, this is an opportunity, not a threat. This article highlights the opportunity you have in 2026, and how to capitalize on it using your liquor store point of sale (POS) system.
Before we get into what the rise of the moderate drinker means for your liquor store, let’s look at the forces driving this change.
Reality: They’re drinking differently, and if you write them off, you’re missing a trick.
Gen Z drinks 20% less per capita than millennials and boomers. 21.5% don't drink at all; another 39% drink only occasionally. It looks bad on paper, but if you write them off, you’ll lose a large customer base.
Gen Z shows much more interest in what they consume. They care about how bourbon is made, they crave the stories behind brands, and they read reviews. When they do buy, they want something interesting. Cheap vodka isn’t interesting — a $45 bottle with a story is.
Another factor is cost. Alcohol was a lot cheaper 10 to 20 years ago, and even bars are too expensive for many Gen Z customers.
Still, Gen Z drinkers are great customers if you have what they’re looking for.
Related Read: Gen Z’s Drinking Habits: What They Want From Your Liquor Store
Reality: The nonalcoholic (NA) category just hit $1 billion, and it’s not slowing down.
According to Forbes, NA spirits and ready-to-drink (RTD) mocktails are the fastest-growing segment in the category — up 70% in the past year, with RTDs alone jumping 123%. NielsenIQ puts the U.S. NA market at around $1 billion in off-premise sales, and it's still climbing.
Think about a customer hosting a few friends. She wants to buy wine and something for a friend who’s not drinking. If you only have the wine, she has to make two stops or find a store that has both.
Related Read: Nonalcoholic Drinks: Profit Opportunity or Waste of Shelf Space?
The shift toward moderate drinking might change how you manage your liquor store, but you don’t need to make sweeping changes. Here are six tactics to help capture the moderate drinker.
The shift: Moderate drinkers won’t browse as much. They do their research, know what they want, and are willing to pay for it. Their baskets might be smaller — but your margins will be higher.
What to do:
On the premium side, invest in:
On the NA side:
Don't bury NA beverages in a back corner. Proper placement signals that you understand how people drink now.
How your POS helps: Some POS providers, like Bottle POS, use automated ranking to rank products on an A-B-C-D scale based on sales, so you see at a glance what's moving or collecting dust. Our centralized SKU database (20,000+ products) makes it easy to add new premium and NA SKUs without manual data entry.
The shift: Gut feeling won’t cut it when you expand into new categories. Use your POS data to determine what’s working.
What to watch:
|
Metric |
What It Tells You |
Action |
|
Premium SKU turn rate vs. margin |
Are you making money or just moving boxes? |
Rebalance shelf space toward high-margin movers. |
|
NA category growth month over month |
Is the category worth expanding? |
Add SKUs if growth is consistent. |
|
Customer purchase frequency |
Are visits slowing? Is ticket size rising? |
Adjust loyalty rewards for fewer, bigger purchases. |
|
New product performance (30/60/90 days) |
Did that new craft gin find an audience? |
Cut slow starters, reorder fast movers. |
If a bottle of Bardstown Bourbon sits for six months, that’s cash tied up in the wrong product. If Heineken 0.0 flies off the shelf, you need to reorder before you run out.
How your POS helps: Use sales reports to track trends, profit by product, and purchase history. Compare this data over time from any device — as long as you have a cloud-based POS system.
The shift: If customers aren’t coming in as frequently as they used to, you can’t build loyalty on frequency and convenience. Loyalty is now about trust.
What to do:
How your POS helps: Some POS systems let you create customer profiles. Track purchase history and loyalty progress across locations, including online purchases. That way, you can send targeted email and SMS campaigns to loyal customers.
The shift: if customers visit your store only once a month, you need to stay top of mind for the other 29 days. Here’s how.
Online presence:
Related Read: 6 Ways To Build Your Liquor Store's Online Presence
Direct outreach:
You don’t want to spam your customers, but you do want to be the liquor store they think of when they’re ready to buy again.
How your POS helps: Bottle POS’ SMS marketing feature lets you build campaigns directly from your POS using customer purchase data.
The shift: Even moderate drinkers value convenience. If they're spending $48 on a bottle instead of $22, they're not always in "grab it on the way home" mode. Sometimes they want to order from their couch.
What to offer:
How your POS helps: Bottle POS connects to BottleZoo, our liquor e-commerce platform with built-in delivery options and DoorDash integration. Your inventory syncs automatically, so you won’t sell bottles you don't have.
The shift: The moderate drinker does research before they walk in. They've watched YouTube videos, read reviews, and know what "allocated" means. Encourage your staff to become as knowledgeable as possible and have conversations with customers.
What to do:
How your POS helps: Customer profiles show staff what a customer has bought before, so they can make informed recommendations without the customer having to repeat themselves.
Yes, Americans are drinking less. That trend might change, but while it’s here, your customers expect you to adapt. And those customers spend more per bottle, explore new categories, and choose liquor stores that understand what they want.
The liquor retailers who win in 2026 will be the ones who:
Ready to see how Bottle POS helps you capture the moderate drinker? Schedule a demo today.
Bottle POS was designed to be smart and simple. Instead of having hundreds of features that liquor store owners won't use, we concentrate on the features that really make a difference.
