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.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/215070
EDITOR'S NOTE 'Tis the Season A s all beverage alcohol retailers know, the holiday selling season garners an oversized percentage of annual sales, and so it makes sense to focus on effective preparations for the next two months. Notable recurring themes remain the hiring extra holiday staff; targeted marketing messages; taking advantage of supplier merchandising and promotional initiatives; balancing inventories; and creating an appealing holiday store environment. Also important is recognizing that consumers are more likely to spend a little extra – either on themselves, their families or friends – during this time of year. With that in mind, retailers should highlight their top-shelf merchandise – in floor displays, social media prompts, special deals, traditional advertising – in order to benefit from the larger profit margins. Everyone knows this intuitively, but constant reminders to staff to trade up customers during this time can only help. Indeed, in this issue we've presented a guide to selling superpremium spirits (see page 13), relating some ideas to help spur higherend sales in the different spirits categories. And with the holiday season looming suppliers have once again played their part by creating festive in-store point-of-sale materials and holidaythemed value-added packaging (see "Holiday Merchandising," on page 27). Beyond that are the long-range strategies retailers should always be investigating. In this issue, we discuss some of the core strategies utilized at the Cellars Wine and Spirits chain in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region (see page 23). One interesting approach owner Ted Reeck uses are several annual event sales. In two of them ("progressive wine sales") that take place starting on the 20th of the month in January and July, discounts kick in on the items on sale and continue to increase – 20% off starting on the 20th and increasing 1% daily and so on until the end of the month. Since no restocking occurs during the sale, bargain hunters must decide whether to buy now or wait until the prices decrease. "It's fun to watch customers come in, work the sale and figure it out," says Reeck. "They want to squeeze every percentage out of the sale, but if they come in the next day and it's sold out, they're out of luck. "Our customers enjoy it to a large extent and it's well shopped, and while it gives me a chance to clear out inventory that's not doing so well, it's also developed into a profitable sale." Meanwhile, the overall economy, while not great, is improving, and the U.S. government remains open. [I never thought I'd be writing a phrase like that; it sounds like it comes from the latest dystopian novel.] It should stay that way at least until some time in January 2014, when the foolishness might start all over again. Let's hope not. Happy New Year! Executive Vice President and Group Publisher Charles Forman Tel: 845-426-6072 Fax: 845-426-6423 email: cforman@specialtyim.com Editor-in-Chief Richard Brandes Tel: 212-353-3832 Fax: 212-353-8214 email: rbrandes@specialtyim.com Contributing Editors Dan Berger Harriet Lembeck Melissa Niksic F. Paul Pacult Robert Plotkin Michael Sherer Vice President of Sales, Associate Publisher Anthony Bongiovanni tbongiovanni@specialtyim.com Senior Regional Sales Manager Mark Marcon mmarcon@specialtyim.com Senior Regional Sales Manager Debbie Rittenberg drittenberg@specialtyim.com Art Director Adam Lane Senior Research Analyst Adam Rogers List Rental Manager Cheryl Naughton R E TA I L E R E D I T O R I A L A D V I S O R Y B O A R D Charles Bailes III Ralph Bondon ABC Fine Wine & Spirits, Orlando, FL Berbiglia's, Kansas City, MO David Breitstein Duke of Bourbon, Canoga Park, CA Jim Shpall Applejack Liquors, Wheat Ridge, CO Hal Gershman Happy Harry's Bottle Shop, Grand Forks, ND Ron Junge Brown Derby Stores, Springfield, MO Ted Farrell Haskell's, Minneapolis, MN Burt Notarius Charles Sonnenberg Premier Liquors, Kemmore, NY Frugal MacDoogal's, Nashville, TN Beverage Dynamics is published by Sincerely, Specialty Information Media Editorial and executive offices at 17 High St., 2nd Fl., Norwalk, CT 06851 Telephone: (203) 855-8499 Fax: (203) 855-9446 Richard Brandes, Editor-in-Chief 4 • Beverage Dynamics • www.beveragedynamics.com • November/December 2013 E-mail: rbrandes@specialtyim.com