“Go with your gut.” 

It’s popular advice for small business owners, but relying on intuition alone isn’t the best way to run your liquor store. 

Instead, you should rely on concrete data to set goals and make better decisions about how to achieve them. 

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about liquor store analytics, including how to track them and how to put them to use. 

Cheers to happier customers, smoother operations, and higher profits! 

Chapters

Why Your Liquor Store Data Matters

Over half of retailers close their doors within five years. It’s a grim statistic, but a critical reminder that you can’t leave your liquor store’s success up to chance. 

Many liquor store owners invest time and energy into creating a rock-solid business plan — but unfortunately, they stop there, never changing their goals and strategies to align with their store’s actual performance. 

Tracking your liquor store analytics and staying adaptable can help you avoid this disaster and ensure long-term profitability. 

This data can help you identify industry shifts, changes in your customers’ preferences and shopping habits, and trends in your store’s overall performance. You can then use these insights to make informed decisions and adjust your product, pricing, and marketing strategies to meet customers’ needs and stay one step ahead of your competitors.


Should Your Liquor Store Invest in Free POS Software BLOG

 

14 Liquor Store KPIs You Need To Know

We’ve established that you need to track your liquor store’s analytics — but which ones?

Key performance indicators (KPIs) are the metrics that matter most to your business. Tracking specific KPIs can help you establish a baseline for your store’s performance, set realistic goals, track your progress, and adapt as needed. 

Here’s a full list of common liquor store KPIs you should know:

Total sales revenue

The income generated from your liquor store’s sales.

Number of transactions

How many sales you’ve made within a certain period.

Average transaction value (ATV)

The average amount customers spend per transaction in your store.

Foot traffic

The number of potential customers who enter your store within a certain period.

Conversion rate

The percentage of visitors to your store that make a purchase.

Customer retention rate

The percentage of one-time shoppers who become repeat customers.

Peak sales periods

Specific days, times, or seasons when sales spike.

Cost of goods sold (COGS)

How much it costs to secure your liquor store’s inventory.

Inventory turnover rate

How much time passes between inventory arriving at your store and being purchased by a customer.

Gross profit

How much you’ve profited by subtracting COGS from your revenue.

Net profit

How much you’ve profited by subtracting COGS and general operating expenses from your revenue.

Profit margin per item

How much profit is generated from each bottle sold.

Sales by category

How much revenue each category of products (white wines, vodkas, etc.) generates.

Employee voids and refunds

The number of voids and refunds employees perform, aiding theft protection.

How To Track Your Liquor Store’s KPIs

We’ve explored the what and why of liquor store KPIs; now let’s cover how to track them. 

With all the responsibilities that come with running a small business, you probably don’t have time to calculate and compare your liquor store analytics manually — which is why we recommend letting your point of sale (POS) system do the heavy lifting. 

3 Essential POS System Reports

You might think of a POS system as a simple tool for processing transactions, but modern solutions can do so much more.

Most importantly, they keep a detailed log of everything happening in your store and turn this data into actionable insights. 

Here are some examples of reports your POS system should generate. 

Sales Reports

Sales reports are exactly what they sound like; they provide an overview of your liquor store’s sales. 

Along with providing a detailed list of your sales transactions, your liquor POS system should break this data down into valuable insights. Here are a few examples of what you should take away from your sales reports: 

  • Sales by category: Learn which types of products — like red wines or tequilas — generate the most revenue. 
  • Sales by brand: Discover where your customers’ brand loyalties lie. 
  • Sales by cashier: Check which of your team members makes the most sales. 
  • Sales trends: Explore how your customers’ product preferences and shopping habits change over time. 

Some liquor store POS systems, like Bottle POS, send a daily text summarizing your latest sales report. This feature makes monitoring your store’s performance a breeze.

BPOS Guide - sales report

 

Inventory Reports

Thorough inventory reports can help you tackle the challenges of liquor inventory management. 

These reports should provide a real-time overview of your stock levels to help you avoid critical stockouts and ensure your customers’ favorite bottles are always on the shelves. 

Your inventory reports should also include helpful data, such as the cost per bottle, sticker price, profit margin, and the overall value of your current inventory. 

Bottle POS goes beyond simply tracking your inventory with a unique analytics feature called product ranking. This AI-powered tool monitors your inventory and sales records to assign each of your products a grade from A to F. This data helps you tailor your offerings to customers’ preferences and decide which spirits are worth reordering. 

Note: Some states, like Texas, require you to keep detailed records of your liquor store’s inventory. A POS system with powerful inventory tracking and reporting makes it easier to stay compliant with these regulations. 

BPOS Guide - customer report

 

Customer Reports

Building a relationship with your customers is the best way to keep sales flowing in your liquor store, but first, you have to get to know them. 

Luckily, your POS system’s customer reports can help. 

These reports show who your customers are, what they’ve purchased, how often they visit your store, and how much they usually spend. This data should inform your product, marketing, and customer service strategies. 

Investing in a POS system with a built-in customer relationship management (CRM) and loyalty tool provides even more opportunities to connect with your most valuable shoppers. You can log helpful information like their birthdays, contact information, communication preferences, and detailed purchase histories. 

Related read: Liquor Store Loyalty Programs: 5 Benefits & How To Implement

BPOS Guide - inventory report

 

4 Ways To Use Your Liquor Store Analytics

Now, let’s look at some real examples of how you can use your liquor store sales reports to boost profitability, simplify operations, and keep customers happy.

1. Master Pricing and Profitability 

Setting prices is one of the most important tasks on your to-do list as a liquor store owner. If prices are too high, you’ll lose sales and send customers to your competitors. If they’re too low, you’ll spend more than you make. 

Striking this delicate balance can be tough, which is why many liquor retailers make the mistake of relying on their intuition to set prices that seem reasonable. 

Fortunately, using your liquor store analytics takes the guesswork out of setting prices and achieving profitability. 

You can track your inventory costs, adjust your prices, and see an automatic calculation of your profit margin for each bottle. This individual breakdown ensures that you turn a profit on every single product in your liquor store. 

Bonus resource: Hoping to increase your liquor store’s profits? Our suggested pricing calculator is the perfect place to start! Scan or enter a bottle’s UPC, get our recommended price, and adjust to match your profit goals and customers’ expectations.

2. Improve Your Inventory Management Approach

Effective liquor store inventory management goes beyond knowing what’s on your shelves. 

Understanding your customers’ always-changing shopping habits, staying up to date on sales trends, and monitoring your inventory turnover rates can help you stay flexible and make informed inventory ordering decisions. 

Let’s say your POS system’s reports reveal a dip in traditional liquor sales and a spike in pre-made cocktail sales. If you continue ordering these products in the same amounts, you might overstock some of your liquor products, leading to cash flow and storage issues. You’ll also understock these popular pre-made cocktails, resulting in lost sales and disappointed customers. 

In short, using your liquor store analytics to inform your product and inventory replenishment strategies ensures that the products on your shelves match your customers’ wants and needs. 

3. Identify Your Busiest Days and Times

Is your liquor store open when your customers need it most? Your sales reports can tell you. 

Your reports should show how your sales trends change by the hour, day, and week. Once you’ve identified your busiest periods, you can make sure your store is open, thoroughly stocked, and well-staffed to accommodate your customers’ schedules. 

Imagine your store’s standard open hours are 12:00 to 7:00 p.m. every day, but your sales reports reveal that 5:00 p.m. until close on Fridays and Saturdays are your peak sales times. 

In this case, you should consider extending your open hours and scheduling more team members over the weekend to plan for the rush and unlock new sales opportunities.

4. Prepare for Seasonal Shifts

In the cold months, your shoppers will reach for spiced rums, warm whiskeys, and red wines. In the summer, they’ll crave cold beers, refreshing vodkas, and tart tequilas. 

Your liquor store analytics should help you anticipate these seasonal shifts in your customers’ wants and needs, giving you insights into which products sell best during different times of the year. 

When the weather starts to change, review your historical sales data to identify any seasonal trends. You can then use this information to forecast inventory demand, making data-driven decisions about which bottles to stock. 

Related read: Managing Seasonal Inventory for Your Liquor Store

Take Your Liquor Store to the Next Level With Bottle POS

Ready to dig into your liquor store analytics and start making real progress toward your small business goals? We can help! 

Bottle POS is an all-in-one POS solution specifically designed for liquor stores like yours. Along with liquor inventory tracking, secure age verification, and a built-in customer loyalty program, our system includes a powerful yet user-friendly reporting and analytics suite. 

Plus, our software is cloud-based, which means you can access your reports from anywhere, at any time. 

See Bottle POS in action by scheduling your live, personalized demo today!

 

Bottle POS schedule a demo

© 2025 POS Retail Software LLC, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy