Running a liquor business is both a rewarding and difficult experience. It can be difficult to get ahead with so much competition, but there can be big profits if you run the business right. While some areas of the world have state/provincial run stores, others have privately owned stores.
If you are interested in getting into the liquor business (or just interested in learning more about the industry), this article should help. Here we will look at a few key tips to help you be successful in the liquor business.
Have a Plan and Set Goals and Objectives
As with any business you are planning to run or start, you need to have a plan. You need to know exactly how you’re going to start the business, who you are going to target, how you are going to market to and more.
In addition to that, you also need to set goals and objectives for your company to meet. Whether this is targeted sales goals, a certain number when it comes to profit, or anything else. However, it is very important to ensure these goals and objectives are realistic and aren’t too ambitious or too easy to reach.
Remain as Compliant and Safe as Possible
Running a liquor store can be a dicey business. You have to ensure you are on the lookout for underage individuals trying to buy booze at your store. While it is a requirement to ID everyone who might look like they are underage, sometimes, that isn’t enough. Mistakes are unfortunately easy to make, especially when employees get tired or the store gets busy, and underage sales do occur a lot more than you would think, which isn’t a good look for your company.
To ensure you don’t fall victim to unintentionally selling alcohol to underage individuals, you should consider implementing an age verification ID scanner, which has become more and more prevalent in the industry. This piece of technology will help you to quickly and efficiently identify underage customers by simply scanning their identification, avoiding the potential for fines, charges, and license revocation.
Treat Your Customers Well
Just like with any company, it is important that you treat your customers well. With so many liquor store options in most cities, you will need to stick out above the competition. This means you need to not only be friendly and offer a decent amount of variety but need to go the extra mile.
You should offer special deals for your customers fairly regularly, and be sure to answer all of their questions or concerns in a timely manner. If you give them a reason (or many reasons) to come back and give you their business, they will.
Watch How Much You Stock
The killer of many new liquor stores is the fact that many simply purchase too much stock. Sure, you don’t want to run out, but if you have too much, that can ruin your business as well. Keeping shelves stocked is a good thing, but keeping them too stocked will cost you a lot of money, especially if people aren’t buying.
You should not only know what you want to sell but how much of it you feel you can sell. This should all be figured out when you work out your target market, how much they buy and things like that. Thankfully, there are a number of different pieces of software that can help you keep track of inventory, manage stock and more.
