Late Night Liquor Store Strategy Rant: Crushing Q3 → Q4 Sales

My sales where you can do in store online just to finish out the season strong. My name is Alden. I'm the founder of Intention Creative. We are the leading digital and in store marketing agency for retail liquor stores in the United States. I have Margo here, director over at the agency as well. And let's dive right in.

Awesome. So out and look, I think banking on your experience, especially at this time, it's quite busy. What's a really great, great way to sort of walk away from Q3 and slide straight into OND for Q?

Well, I think it's important just before we get into OND and those, those flavors, the colors, the gift sets, like all of that stuff just to finish out again Q3 strong. So there's probably still some pumpkin stock left over, probably that rumchata pumpkin spice that everybody wants. Nobody drinks. So I think still having those displays up up until Halloween, there's still that opportunity to get that crowd like, like literally up until Halloween. And, and also you're going to get into this, I think you have opportunity with bulk buys as well. People making punch, whatnot right up until the night. Because again you got the parents who are drinking while they're, while their kids are doing the trick or treating. So you got a little bit of, of time there. But also, I mean it's already mid October. So you have all the Q4 has already started. All, all the, you got the cranberry, got the like smearing off caramel, you got all the caramel flavors coming in, all the ciders. So all those already on the way. So I, you could still have the pumpkin display right up front. And again what I say, you enter and you have it right on a barrel. It is just guaranteed to sell more if you got it on a barrel. I promise you that something that we do is we make recipe cards for people and people go gangbusters for that. Again, just make them nice. What, what we'll do is put it on eight and a half by 11 sheet, six of them. People can print them out, just laminate them and just cut them all. Investment of like less than a hundred dollars. And people go nuts for those either again on that barrel or any sort of display end cap you got or actually at the register as well. Or if you have like a tasting area, put it there and again people will pick those up. You can always put your branding on there. QR codes to the website. If you have an app again or like any sort of kind of like promotion to get people to give you their contact information. Or purchase online. You put all that. There you go. People are going to take away. You know, you would actually be surprised how many people actually keep that versus, you know, like, you give them something and they throw it right away. So I think you got a little bit of opportunity. And again, like on your website, put a banner at the very top, have them cycle through where you still have that Q3. Again, those flavors just finish out strong. And then you got the Q4 right with it. And again, all you need to do, have a product group just put like 10 products in there and you're good to go and you'll build from there. And then when all the gift sets come in, you know, that's already trickling in. I see it. People on their purse stores, whatnot. And yeah, I think that's kind of what I would do at this moment with. In relation to your question, I hope I answered it.

Yeah, no, definitely. Look, I'm a parent myself, and I know with Halloween, it's nice, it's fun, it's busy, and there are those kind of special drinks that make that night even more special. So what else would somebody be looking for if they were coming into the store? What other kinds of bundles can, you know, a store put together that really drives that type of energy around that Halloween festivity?

Yeah, I think one thing that people don't lean into and we've actually seen good success is, is. Is gift sets. But I don't mean in the traditional. Sounds like you can, like, you kind of set it bundles, but even small bundles of just like, like, even, like two, three products. Like, I go, this pairs well with this. Again, you're getting into the cream liqueurs, whether it be in Q3 flavors or Q4. So what was your question?

What other ideas can people throw together when it comes to putting together a Halloween party?

Yeah, the Halloween party. I. Again, I think when you're getting here at the end and going to Q4, like, like a lot of it is how to stock your bar. We see that doing really well. So, like, again, just choose like one highlight item. It has nothing to do with any of the flavors or anything. It's just like, okay, here's our. You know what I always say is you enter and you have like, here's this week's top 10 picks or staff picks or anything like that. Just choose one. And then that way the staff just needs to just train your staff on 10 products versus 3,000 SKUs and just whatever. And honestly, this is a great way when people have private labels or anything like that, where they can promote those higher margin items as well and people will know the difference. And again, this is where I think an opportunity for like a this or that sort of thing. So it's like, like, okay, if you like Tito's Vodka, then try Bushel or like something like that. Like, like when you get into the, the higher margin items. So it's. And people are going to stock up as well, so you have to be weary. And like, again, like, with the case discounts, one thing that people don't do is just like, promote that you have case discounts, promote that you have delivery. It kind of like, it's like, oh, but I've done it in the past. Honestly, if you could, you could promote it once every two months and you will see a slew of orders because new people see it or you have people who have forgotten about it, but they're like, oh, you know, like this. I am going to need this. And it's. What I think is funny, is why I like to be like a week or two weeks ahead of all the other stores. And like, what we do for all of our stores is sometimes it's whoever posts it first. So maybe it's not the optimal time, but you hit people on the interest, then the impulse buy. Like, I know when Starbuck comes out with their, when their fall menu or, or any of their new products, like, I'm there. Like, I'm. I'm gone. And you know what? The drink might suck, but I don't regret and I still will do it next time as well.

No, that sounds great. I think we're all probably in the same bucket where, yes, we've got Halloween happening this month, but we're sliding straight into the month of giving as well. So we've got Thanksgiving to plan for. We've got Friends Day. We've got other events that we've got to get organized for. So I know we change gears into Thanksgiving, but what would be some really great ideas? Putting together a dinner and having everybody over. What would you recommend?

Yeah, so, so, so between Thanksgiving and friendsgiving, I mean, overall, we're into wine season and like, you're. I mean, again, like, it's. It's all wine. Like, what are you gonna pair? So, like, like Pino gonna pair with, with turkey and you know, so. Yeah. And like, like, Rieslings are great. Gertz are like, great in this season as well. So it's. The difference between them is like, friends giving. Everyone's like, the idea is to potluck Right. So you're just looking honestly at the lower. It's usually the cheaper products and down the line. And usually I found everyone just brings white wine. But on Thanksgiving, it's a great opportunity for you can be like, okay, like, here's everything you need to buy for your. For your dinner to pair with all the different foods. And that way, again, going back to your bundles, it's a great way to just do just like a. Like a. Honestly, you could actually put it together in a product group and people can just, like, add them all individually. Or what you can do is create custom products that has it pretty much like, okay, the Thanksgiving bundle. It's like, could be like a 200, 300 order, but that way the people love simplicity and people like, just like easy ordering. The great thing, again, with especially wine is like, almost nobody walking into a liquor store can actually read a label or know anything. They're just buying what looks pretty. But quite honestly, if they do actually have the guts to ask an employee what they think about a product, that they usually will purchase whatever the recommendation is. And again, that's where you get into that sort of, like, dangerous territory where you want to make sure that you have good customer service, because otherwise, like, somebody has a bad experience. Like I've said before, if I'm looking for a bouldered one and I'm, I guess somebody gives me a Pinot, not giving me, like, Cali Cab or something. And again, Cali is not the only place that does bold red wines that, you know, the Finger Lakes coming up with Sapper Avian's finally getting its. Its limelight. But yeah, yeah. Overall, I think for. For Thanksgiving and friends giving you opportunities to do single bottles on focus brands, you have the opportunity to do big case buys. And I just like, unless you're doing, like, whiskey afterwards, that I'm just not really seeing the. The. The spirits. It's really just. It's wine season.

Yeah. I think the spirits towards the end of Thanksgiving kind of depend on the group. I know I like a whiskey myself, but not all do. And I think any time that you can walk into a store and they kind of take away the thought of what do I pair with, you know, the entrees and then the main being turkey and then your desserts, it makes it really easy to make a purchase. So obviously we don't finish there. We're only in November, and then we're already in gift for, you know, the month of December and Christmas and New Year's again, those are two major events that Many people do celebrate so very different. What would you again recommend that stores could put some light on?

So what's funny to me is people will start looking at Christmas when like December 1st. It's like after Thanksgiving and the other thing. Oh actually like Black Friday. Everyone's like oh we want to do something for Black Friday. I'm like you're going to the most just it depends. But like I would say for most people no like that's just not. You are not the E Comm they're looking to purchase on the Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Cyber Monday just always makes me laugh. But a lot of people will go for Christmas in the gifts like right after that in December 1st. And it's like most people have already purchased purchased all their gifts. It's actually there's some statistic like 60, 70 of people have purchased by the third week of October or something. So like the. The opportunity is not. We actually will like I just got like 50 page book from Amazon. It's like there's like 500 items in it for. For buying gifts. So. So we'll actually promote gifts way early on and we'll do different like waves of promoting gifts because people are going to buy different stuff and obviously have the. The last minute shoppers and that's a great opportunity to be like a go. We. We deliver a free delivery over X period. And then just the thing with delivery is it's if not got to be careful with it. But it depends if you're doing self delivery or if I mean if you're doing like a third party they're just gonna. They're gonna do their thing. But yeah, I think you can do a lot of different angles. I would say space it out. There's gonna. People are going to be looking at different price points and just kind of have your. Your lead items that you want to promote. If you have barrel picks a lot of people will save their barrel picks for this area. You of course have the Q4 allocations which you know upstate New York right now is very funny and touchy subject with what happened with Southern and well not going into that. But yeah, I think there are a lot of different opportunities. It really depends on the inventory you have on the store. It depends on what sort of like allocation to points programs. It. It depends on your clientele. What's your average basket ring. And because again people who are buying it's it. It's crazy. We'll see some remember talking to some store and they're like number one bottle. They were Purchasing in December was dom. And I thought that was crazy. That was insane. But for the power to them, you wouldn't imagine how much money they made there. So, yeah, it depends on the particular situation. I think like, that's why, like working. And again, I'm not, not, not plugging us very specifically, but like, like what we do, and I'll say we do well, is like, look at a store, analyze what's there, look past purchase history, look at trends and what are the new products and tailor how you're selling to that versus some just generalized stuff. And. And again, I actually will be doing a little just blatant marketing, but if you have new employees, you need customer service. Liquor Chat Rai. You just plug any question into there and turns every employee into a master Somalia. So. So yeah, a little blatant marketing there that everyone should. I mean, we made it. We think it's a great tool. We use it internally just as a way to QA that it actually works. The liquor stores that we have it in, it works well.

So, yeah, look, I think that really helps. One of the hardest things for a customer to do is to walk into a liquor store and get absolutely no help when they're trying to put a gift together or buy some liquor for an event. So. And I think too it's the opportunity of being creative. You've got stockings to feel. You've got people that are gifting friends and family. So gifts, like you said, would range different price points. But giving a chance for employees to actually be able to answer that question. I know that would be powerful.

In terms of. I'm sorry, could you restate that?

Just, just regarding, like for example, walking in and actually having somebody know at a liquor store what it is that you're looking for, what would suit you best for a gift and having that knowledge that like you said, Liquor Chat would give them. But also stores getting creative with the kind of gifts they're putting together, you know, stocking fillers and. And all those elements that I guess bring the special season, you know, a bit more fun, I should say. But what I would. What I find interesting is what people choose to drink over New Year's. I know that it's the time we're celebrating the end of a year and a new one coming in. And generally people might pop champagne just because of the celebration. But again, what are some other fun drinks that you can put together when you are celebrating such a large event?

So you know what's funny about. So everyone will come in looking for champagne. The fact the fact that you said that. And they usually are not actually talking about champagne. They want sparkling, they want sparkling wine. And honestly I always go. My go to is Prosecco. I just, I absolutely love Prosecco Cabo. Like honestly, anything but champagne. But it's. Yeah. I mean that those are gonna go. Those are gonna be the go to's and I actually want to. You said something about stocking stuffers as well. If you're a store that does really well with 50 milliliter, I mean the margin on those is, is ridiculous. But like that's, that's a great opportunity to put those front and center. And again, like if you could do Advent calendars or any sort of. Like I don't put a bunch of stuff into a bucket and just sell the bucket of stuff knowing that like XYZ is in there, that's an opportunity there. But in terms of. Yeah, the, the different drinks depends again, it, it depends on the people that are shopping in your area. I think bubbly is going to be number one. Like the, the big push is that we look to our sparkling wine last minute delivery. I personally do like the. Just, just pushing white wines. I, I would argue it's not really a red wine area, but the people like whiskey is huge as well. And I think cocktails do well. You know what really the. Penelope. Penelope, they came out with these premixed cocktails and I forget what it was. It was something with, with orange. The, the one that they had in the. In the summer, in. In the fall and that was fantastic. I heard the, the. The winter one is not so great, but the spring one that they're supposed to be coming out is supposed to be fantastic. But yeah, again with people just. RTDs are huge. It'll be interesting to see if that is going to translate into fall and winter as well. But I still am not hopeful about RTDs when it comes to like whiskey and brown spirits. Truthfully.

Yeah, no, I have to definitely agree with you. Look, I think it's a great opportunity for stores to get creative. Let their customers have a chance to see what they can put together. Even if sort of a 12 days to Christmas lead up and you know, just fun stuff that really bring those festivities around so out. And look, I think you know, you've touched on a fair bit. Is there anything more that you wanted to add that the stores can sort of take away from this?

Yeah, yeah. I think the, the one thing we didn't touch on is and a great marketing opportunity that a lot of people don't do. Is. I mean, tastings are huge. I mean, you know, every Friday, Saturday, even Thursday, you're. You're going to be booked up just doing tastings every single weekend. Everybody wants to get in there. I know I did when I was doing wine and when I was working at the Costco affiliated liquor store that it was. You have four or five people at a time. And what people don't do is they don't promote that they have the tastings. It kind of just happens. Dance. But I'm telling you, we tell us every single time if anybody has consistent tastings. Literally just like the. And again, I'm such a proponent on just get the information out there. It doesn't have to be pretty, doesn't have to be like not crazy artwork or anything. Literally just type it out and put it in a blast. Just getting the right message in front of the right person at the right time, that's all that matters. At the end of the day, that is the only thing that matters. So just telling people what tastings you have, even if it's three, four days before that because you know, like the, the weekend and like we wait, we always wait until the Monday before we make any assets because know the distributors, the producers, they're all, they'll all throw you curveballs over the weekend. But that's the, that's one thing that we didn't hit on that I think is really important. But outside of that, I think that we covered a lot of just the top line stuff.

Yeah. Awesome. So I guess before we do wrap it up, did you want to touch on anything else or. You did mention there was one more thing. All right, well, I guess guys, unless out and does want to sort of chime in and, and cut me off, but I think, you know, this was just an introduction to what's happening right now. Things to think about, to get prepared for. And I hope you've enjoyed our quick chat about Q3 and straight into O D. So stay safe, have fun and catch us soon. Take care.