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/446939
Retail SERVICE { } $ 8 Beverage Dynamics • January/February 2015 www.beveragedynamics.com HERE WE GO AGAIN! Yet another year has come and gone. BY BRIAN D. ROSEN We retailers have worked very hard for the last four months. We've also worked very hard for the four months that preceded them. Finally, we've worked very hard for the four months that preceded the second four-month period. What all this really means is that we are always, as retailers, working hard. We just fi nished 2014, and now the meter is at $0 again — it all starts over for 2015. Thanksgiving, the day that has the potential to be the best wine sales day of the year, has passed. Goose Island Friday is over, and the whole month of December is faded like your patience by the time New Year's Eve rolls around. How can we make 2015 a better year? How can we take the entire leftover paid inventory and "turn" it and fi nally, what can we do in the fi rst quarter of 2015 so we are into our line of credit as little as possible? When I was CEO of Sam's Wines of Chicago, we dreaded the fi rst quarter. All the bills are due, the associates want bonuses and all the customers are in hibernation. We would enter the sales fl oor knowing that our inventory on January 1 far exceeded our sales for that fi rst quarter. As retailers, and especially alcohol beverage retailers, we just had to deal with this reality. STORE RESET Once the garbage is cleaned and the shelves restocked, a store reset might be needed. Knowing the traffi c fl ow of your consumer is key here. In my teachings I write about quadranting the store and using key tag items to chart customer fl ow. That is really fancy talk for noting a good-selling item, and noticing where you place it, its selling pattern and its velocity. When this is done, you can see what the best parts of the store are in non-peak times. This will help you decide where the dead space is in your store (and if it's location-related or product-related. CLOSEOUTS AND SALES The natural move in the fi rst quarter is to sell off excess inventory, but there is a way to sell through goods without margin degradation. There will, of course, be leftover inven- tory after the holidays. But there are also events to move goods that remain after the holiday season. Super Bowl, Valen- tine's Day, St. Pat's. Create gifting items around either bundling older SKUs or baskets. Run some sales and events. What always draws big attention is hourly markdown events. It works like this: run a promotion between 11am and 4pm. Every hour take an additional fi ve percent off the items on sale. What this does is two fold. First, it creates a sense of urgency for goods. Does the customer buy the good now at x-percent off, or wait an hour until it is at y-percent off? The risk is that the good will be sold. This pushes sales and also helps to move goods with excitement. THE REALITY Our business, for better or for worse, is really a 300-day practice session and a 65- day game. We have to maintain for most of the year and hope that the season pans out as planned. This is your business, but with a few clever and retail science driven exercises you can have a good fi rst quar- ter to continue to take pressure off in the coming months. BD Our business, for better or for worse, is really a 300-day practice session and a 65-day game. BRIAN ROSEN is operating partner of Evolution Wine & Spirits, in Chicago, and is available through Evolution Speaking and Consulting. He can be reached at brian@ evolutionwines.com.