If you own and run a wine store, you know what your customers want.
From the soon-to-be sommelier to the bridesmaid on the way to an engagement party, your target customer comes to your store with one thing in mind — wine. You’re all but guaranteed to make a sale, how can discounting and in-store promotional offers truly benefit your business?
More than you might think. A solid marketing strategy can help you boost sales, win repeat business, and spread brand awareness.
So what are you waiting for?
Here are some of our favorite ideas for online and in-store wine marketing promotions you can start right now.
Wine Marketing Tip: Don’t Be Afraid To Shake Things Up
There’s a lot to do when running a wine shop or liquor store, and marketing may be an afterthought. It can be tempting to fall back on simple coupon codes and straightforward discounts when you're busy.
While there’s nothing wrong with the occasional discount code, they’re not likely to drum up excitement for your business or bring in new customers.
Wine is very experiential, and as price points for basic bottles rise, it takes more to build trust with customers and meet their expectations. That’s why supplementing marketing with events and educational materials is more important than ever.
Key Takeaway: Don’t be afraid to try new things. If you or your staff has a love for wine, tap into that passion to create novel marketing ideas that will transform your business from just a place to buy wine to a place to have an exciting wine-buying experience.
Related Read: 9 Liquor Store Marketing Strategies To Start Using Today
7 Wine Marketing Strategies To Excite Customers
With so many varied options (and opinions) on wine, it’s hard enough to decide on what bottles to sell, let alone how to sell them.
While having knowledgeable and friendly staff will always be your first port of call, here are seven additional strategies (plus one bonus tip) to boost your wine sales this year.
1. Hold Tasting Events
The average price of “starter” bottles of wine has risen to about $30, meaning wine enthusiasts may be more hesitant to try a new bottle.
Why not make it fun and easy to try new wines by hosting a wine tasting event? Tasting events are a great way to bring customers into the shop, where they can try some free wine and learn more about particular bottles and regions.
The more you can educate customers about different wines, the more confident they’ll be in trying new bottles in the future.
One way to ensure your event is a success is to have a theme, such as:
- Highlighting a particular vineyard or brand
- Hosting a special night to introduce specific regional wines
- Launching a “beginner” wine course to make wine newbies feel welcome
- Hosting a tasting event for a new product arrival
Depending on the tasting event, you can either make it free or charge a small entry fee using your point of sale (POS) system.
For free events, give attendees an exclusive discount code to use on wine. That will encourage customers to come back and give you a quantifiable way to measure the event’s success.
Tens of millions of active users use social media daily, making it increasingly vital for small business marketing.
Why is social media so beneficial? There are many reasons! Namely, it:
- Lets you put a human face on your brand
- Gives you opportunities to talk directly to customers
- Allows you to educate customers on different wines
- Gives you a way to announce new product arrivals and discounts
- Helps you spread the word about upcoming events
- Gives you another way for people to find your website and newsletter
If you’re new to social media marketing, choose one platform and post two or three times a week. The key is consistency. The more regularly you post, the more likely you are to show up in people’s feeds.
Don’t forget to put your business contact information and website links in your profile.
3. Run Wine Bottle Giveaways
On its surface, giving away products for free seems like an awful business decision — but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
The key to a successful giveaway is getting something in return, such as a social media follower or a signup for your customer loyalty program or newsletter.
For example, you could run a giveaway on social media where entrants have to follow your account and tag a friend to enter. This is a low-effort way to gain new followers who might continue following your store after the giveaway.
While you could hold a giveaway the old-fashioned way (by filling out a card and putting it in a box), you’d miss out on opportunities for further marketing.
4. Create Product Bundles and Discounts
Wine lovers love wine paraphernalia — and if you can offer it as a bonus, even better. Use your POS system to create custom product bundles or discounts that encourage upselling.
For example, you could create a red wine starter kit that lets customers choose from select bottles and a wine decanter. Or you could offer 50% off a decanter with a purchase of $60 or more. As long as your POS system is flexible enough, the only limit is your creativity.
In addition to discounts and bundles, be mindful of your store layout. Place complementary items near your wine section or at the ends of shelves to catch shoppers’ attention as they browse.
Email marketing still has one of the highest returns on investment (ROI) of any marketing channel for small businesses.
Write a newsletter once a week or once every two weeks. Include things like:
- Educational content
- Store announcements
- Staff highlights
- Event calendars
- Product highlights
It also doesn’t hurt to throw in a few discount codes exclusive to your newsletter. This gives people a tangible incentive to sign up and open your emails.
Remember, a newsletter doesn’t have to be (and shouldn’t be) long. Just a few paragraphs are enough. Additionally, some items like calendars and discount codes can be templated to make the job easier in the future.
6. Create Informative Signage
Signage is an invaluable marketing tool and an often overlooked and undervalued part of the shopping experience.
Related Read: Liquor Store Merchandising 101: Signage, Displays, and Layout
Beyond orienting customers in your store, great signs are also helpful for what in marketing is called “storytelling.” Storytelling signs are informative signs that connect customers to brands and get them invested in products. For example, a sign that gives a background or history for a certain vineyard or region.
These signs can be incredibly effective marketing tools since they help customers feel like experts. Practically, having some informative signage also makes a wall of wine bottles much less intimidating and easier to navigate.
Create both reusable signage to educate people (e.g., signs on tasting notes, different regions, differences between types of wine, etc.) and short-term signs for things like sale items, new brands, wine scores, and more.
7. Run Holiday and Seasonal Promotions
Timing is everything — especially when it comes to wine marketing.
Wines are used in celebrations of all kinds and are especially popular during holiday seasons—mulled wine for Christmas, champagne for New Year’s, or a sumptuous red blend for Valentine’s Day.
Take advantage of holidays and seasonal events by running themed in-store promotions — complete with visual displays. Run discounts on popular seasonal wines to encourage bulk sales or upsell more expensive bottles.
Use the reports and sales data on your POS system to determine which types of wine are most popular with your customers during different seasons.
And get creative. For example, March is International Women’s Month, so you could top up a table full of wines made by women-owned businesses. National Chianti Day? Set up a spread of different brands of the Italian red.
BONUS TIP: Use Data and Track Your Success
Changing up the types of marketing you do is an excellent idea, but it’s not the same as throwing ideas against a wall and seeing what sticks.
Taking a measured, strategic approach will help you get the most ROI from your marketing efforts.
When planning events and promotions, use the data on your POS to understand your bestsellers, peak hours, customer buying trends, and more. This will help you determine what your customers are interested in before you spend a penny.
Then, after you run an event or sale, use your POS system to track the results. That way, you can home in on what’s working (and what’s not).
Improve Your Wine Marketing Effectiveness With a Trusted Partner
A good marketing idea isn’t just a way to make more money; it’s a way to learn about your customers and create deals they’ll truly love.
However, coming up with creative promotions and running successful promotions isn’t easy when you’re bogged down in day-to-day processes.
That’s why many liquor store and wine shop owners rely on industry-specific software to simplify and modernize how they run their stores. Bottle POS is a comprehensive solution tailored for alcohol sales, with easy-to-use tools for marketing promotions, reporting and sales history, customer loyalty, and more.
Schedule a demo with our experts today to see how Bottle POS can supercharge your marketing efforts in 2025.
