Liquor Store Promotions that Increase & Reward Loyalty

Many liquor store promotions focus exclusively on increasing product visibility and sales. Customer loyalty promotions are often missing from the liquor store marketing mix. Customer loyalty isn’t just a “buzzword”; increasing loyalty is known to increase sales and increase customer lifetime value.

Bain & Company, a leading global management consulting firm, found that “Across a wide range of businesses, customers generate increasing profits each year they stay with a company. In financial services, for example, a 5% increase in customer retention produces more than a 25% increase in profit.”  Loyalty programs increase customer retention.

Source: “Prescription for cutting costs” by Fred Reichheld, Bain & Company.

Easy Liquor Store Promotion Ideas You Can Implement Today

The following are a few easy marketing ideas that increase customer loyalty.

Greet Return Customers Like You Would and Old Friend

Greeting return customers is a small but consequential act. Ask your employees to learn the first names of frequent customers. Employees should greet the customer by name when they enter the store and thank them by name when the leave. Customers do appreciate it. It makes them feel important, which they are!

Give Away SWAG…but Not to Every Customer

SWAG, as you probably know, is an acronym for “Stuff We All Get”. What’s great about SWAG is that your liquor store often doesn’t have to purchase promotional items. Liquor store marketing agents often give you freebies when promoting products in your store. Promotional items frequently include things like keychains, drinking glasses, beer steins, toques, ball caps and beer can coolers (a.k.a. “koozies”).

Ask your sales associates to reward frequent customers with promotional SWAG. Don’t just give away promotional items to anyone. Giving away SWAG may seem like nothing, but it’s a way of letting return customers know they are appreciated.

Re-Evaluate Your Bulk Discount Threshold

If the threshold for a bulk discount is too high (e.g. 10 cases of wine, 30 cases of beer) then you’re only rewarding large-purchase customers or special event organizers and you’re leaving your most valued return customers out in the cold. If a return customer asks if they can they get a “bulk” discount for a case of wine, you may want to consider offering something. They’re more likely to buy cases in the future.

Implement Discounts and BOGO Deals in Your Online Store and 3^rd Party Stores

Whether you have an online store or sell your products through shopping and delivery services such as Doordash or UberEats, consider offering discounts. You can discount particular items or offer buy-one-get-one (BOGO) deals. UberEats promotions are easy to implement. Merchants can set store-wide discounts, discounts for new customers, and discounts and loyalty rewards for return customers. It’s important to note that when offering discounts, they must adhere to the LCRB LRS Terms & Conditions (PDF), You’ll have to ensure that any online pricing matches in-store pricing and that you are not selling below the minimum pricing guidelines.

Thrive Liquor & Cannabis Advisors Makes Liquor Store Promotions Easy

If you’d like more liquor store promotion and operation ideas, get in touch with the liquor consultants at Thrive Advisors. We’ll help create liquor store marketing strategies that increase customer loyalty.