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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Of the roughly $63 million in chain-wide revenues, spirits sales account for about 53%, wine about 25% and beer about 22%. wine and beer," he says. Regional trends are shifting slowly; for instance, in the gin category where Georgia and South Carolina have long been significant markets, sales have begun to move a little to the higher end with such brands as Hendrick's growing, and to newer styles, with Gallo's New Amsterdam having an impact. Category leader Seagram's Gin is still extremely popular. Canadian whisky, too, has maintained its great pop- ularity in South Carolina and in both states he's seeing an uptick in cordials and shooters – with brands like Dr. Mc Gillicuddy's Fireball growing fast enough to chal- lenge Jagermeister among shooters. That's a category that's showing great customer curiosity and experimen- tation and robust sales in his stores. n two other categories, strong interest in premiu- mization has more than off set slower unit growth. "In tequila, we're selling fewer bottles but much better - now you almost have to be 100 percent agave to sell," he says, with brands like the relaunched Espolon taking off, while the mixto version of category leaders Sauza and Cuervo are way off. In Bourbon and Tennessee whiskey, the story is much the same – high end and single release items like the annual Woodford Reserve Select doing especially well. Increase In Premium Sales I Of course, the flip side of all this industry innovation is this: where to put all those bottles? "It is our single largest problem. To me, one of the greatest challenges we face now is inventory management." Reddic describes the difficulty he faces turning down supplier partners when a new product comes out, and how it can skew his bottom line. For example, a sup- plier with whom he has frequently worked closely came in with a product extension that Reddic and his staff, after tasting, decided had only a limited chance for suc- cess in his stores. "But I put it in because the supplier was a great friend and it was very important to them that we at least gave it a chance." But he ended up with a range of skus of the brand that, in fact, ultimately didn't sell. "I've probably got 60 or 70 cases of the stuff and I have absolutely no idea how I'm going to get rid of it." In order to keep the shelves clear for the next new thing, Green's evaluates new items every quarter and tries to get rid of anything that's not selling through con- tinuous discounting. "It's painful and expensive but the bigger sin would be not to put in stuff and to lose the image in the marketplace as a retailer who features everything that sells with any volume." Wine and Beer Challenges I n wine and beer, Green's faces different challenges. The stores saw a massive trade-down with wine because of the recession, and Reddic says that while customers are starting to show a willingness to pay more, they now are always bargain hunting. "Customers today are very savvy and well-educated, and the Internet plays a huge part in that. When a wine customer is able to go online and see what wines sell for at retailers across the country, they develop a mindset that 'I shouldn't pay any more for that wherever I live' - forget the tax and wholesale structure and laws and whatnot. I think the wine business has forever been changed by the internet. It really has made the consumer a lot smarter, a lot sharper and more demanding," Reddic says. Green's private label wine program is almost the reverse of the spirits side: a few national brands interspersed 18 • Beverage Dynamics • www.beveragedynamics.com • May/June 2012