Beverage Dynamics is the largest national business magazine devoted exclusively to the needs of off-premise beverage alcohol retailers, from single liquor stores to big box chains, through coverage of the latest trends in wine, beer and spirits.
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business. "The number of people using social media is getting bigger by the minute," he says. "You don't have to be a whiz at it yourself, since there are plenty of peo- ple that can and will do it for you, but you have to try. Ask yourself, what is your competition doing to get cus- tomers into their stores?" The answer probably includes online marketing using social media. Younger Generation Leads the Way "I've learned that the old media isn't effective in driving younger dollars into our store," said Jack Bondon Jr., the VP of Operations, Berbiglia Wine & Spirits, a family-owned chain of 11 stores in and around Kansas City, MO, whch uses the chain's website and Facebook page to connect with a broad array of consumers. Ridge turned to social media, a "less expensive option than the traditional forms of advertising: print, TV and radio," according to Marberger. "We currently use Facebook, YouTube and our website to reach online consumers, and we're just getting started with texting and Twitter," he says. "We're soon beginning Skype interviews with prominent winemakers, brewers and distillers. I think you need to take a shotgun approach to the new forms of marketing." Marberger's method is to throw a lot against the wall and see what sticks. While everything won't work, trying is the only way to find out what will. Bay Ridge used the email addresses they collected as part of their "Card Club" program to inform customers of their social media endeavors. Marberger also puts signage around the store and mentions the company's Facebook page in traditional forms of advertising. He uses the page to announce sales dates, events, new products and industry news. Ultimately, he says the most important thing is keeping in mind that the information sent out to customers needs to be relevant. His advice to other retailers? Don't try to fight modern technology and accept that it's changed every- thing about people's lives, including how they run a ince 1936, change has been part of Peco's Liquor Store in Wilmington, DE. The family-owned and operated business says change is key to their 75- plus year success and led them to embrace social media as an important marketing and sales tool. Ed Mulvihill, whose great-grandparents founded the store, began running the company's website and Facebook page when he was in college. When he grad- uated earlier this year with a marketing degree, he took what he learned and applied it to Peco's. "I've always wanted to work at the store and I was excited to try these new tools," Mulvihill says. "It's both exciting and terri- fying, since you also don't want to be the one to screw up the family business." Peco's specialty is craft beer. The store carries over 275 brands from more than 70 breweries and relies on a loyal craft beer clientele from the neighborhood. The store also carries more than 1,500 wines from around the world and while Mulvihill says it's difficult to compete with big box stores when it comes to spirits, Peco's does well with a number of smaller, craft distilled brands. His grandparents and mother still come to work at the store everyday, and Mulvihill says while they didn't get social media right away, they're 100% supportive of what he's doing, and even though it's difficult to explain the technology, they can see the results. That was espe- cially obvious in January when customers kept wishing Mulvihill's grandfather a happy birthday in the store – it turns out Ed had posted on Facebook that he was turning 83 that day. "He got a real kick out of that and thought it was great," Mulvihill says. "Growing up with social media, that's my go-to form of communication, but for older customers who don't have profiles, we need to turn them onto it," he says. "We tell them about our website and we make sure everything we put on Facebook also appears on store signage and in our email newsletter." Peco's incentivizes customers to like them on Facebook by saying they'll be the first to get coupons and information about new products. While the feedback isn't always obvious, customers are getting the message. When Peco's had a certain Dogfish Head beer in stock for the first time in a year recently, Mulvihill posted a picture on Facebook with the caption, "it's back, get it while you can." He was confused when no S 58 • Beverage Dynamics • www.beveragedynamics.com • March/April 2012