Liquor Store Business Loans: Get in the Spirit By Raising the Holiday Bar

The holidays are coming, and if you own a wine or liquor store, you have a huge opportunity to cater to the holiday spirit with liquor store business loans.

According to Nielsen, 2016 wine sales between Christmas, New Years and Thanksgiving reached a whopping $1,898,520,975. Liquor sales during the same time were at $1,607,804,171. In total, that’s over $3.5 billion!

It won’t only be your regulars flooding the store. Everyone—from recent college graduates, to middle-aged parents, to retirees—buys liquor during the holidays. Between bottles of wine for the dinner table and 12-year scotch gift bottles, there’s a huge market at your fingertips.

But to fully grasp it and maximize your profits, you’ll need to take things to jack things up a notch. Running seasonal marketing campaigns, purchasing additional stock, and other holiday initiatives can help you keep your shelves stocked and your door opening during the holidays.

How to Earn More During the Holidays With Liquor Store Business Loans

There’s no shortage of demand for wine and liquor during the holiday season. Accessing small business loans for liquor stores can help you put your funds in the right place, instead of letting competitors get the edge.

Hiring Holiday Help to Better Serve Your Customers

You might be thinking about adding new members to your team to better serve customers with increased foot traffic. After all, during the holidays, you want to keep shelves stocked, registers moving quickly, and make sure you’re taking care of all of their needs.

Rather than waiting for the holiday season to enter full swing, it makes sense to start preparing early. By hiring new team members at the beginning of the holidays, you can make sure your store is a well-oiled machine when it really matters.

It’s also important to never underestimate the power of recommendations from a knowledgeable sales rep! Having an expert on hand to answer questions can make the difference between a happy, satisfied customer, and losing somebody to the competition.

With extra cash on hand, you won’t have to dig deep into your pockets to cover this expense by the time payroll comes around.

Use Liquor Store Inventory Financing to Keep Your Shelves Stocked

If you don’t have enough bottles in stock, how can you expect to increase your holiday sales?

This is the most crucial piece of the puzzle when it comes to maximizing holiday sales in your liquor store. But if you’re not proactive about it, it’s also easy for it to fall by the wayside.

When you put in bulk holiday orders, it’s important to consider a few key things:

• What types of wine and liquor customers tend to purchase as gifts
• What bottles customers often bring to gatherings with family and friends
• Seasonally popular items
• Hot holiday sellers that flew off the shelves during last year

Making your holiday orders with these points in mind can help you purchase the right bottles the first time. If you don’t take a data-driven approach, you may find yourself with too much of a not-so-desirable item on hand, and not enough holiday sellers to satisfy seasonal sales.

Running Holiday-Themed Events & Tastings

Why should customers choose your liquor store over a competitor? Unless you’ve already cornered your local market, you’ll need to give them a reason.

One shortcut to delivering the best holiday liquor store shopping experience around is holding fun, holiday events.

This can be as simple as setting up a display table to promote a timeless holiday classic. Or, you can also promote your holiday inventory by opening a bottle of new, up-and-coming holiday products. A few decorations can set the tone and create a winning holiday theme.

If there’s a local brewery, vineyard, or distillery, then reach out about the possibility of a partnership. Having a representative come to your store can generate even more interest, and benefit both parties.

Holiday Liquor Store Sales & Free Giveaways

Tastings can go a long way, but they might not be enough for your liquor store to generate new revenue. That’s where sales and free giveaways come in!

Promotional holiday bundles can be a simple and effortless way to upsell customers to a higher-ticket purchase. You can also give away a free bottle of wine for every purchase of a high-ticket liquor bottle above a certain price. At a much lower cost, try giving out a free bottle of coke (or another mixer) for every liquor bottle purchased. The opportunities are endless!

Funding for a liquor business can help you make this financially possible.

Updating Your Liquor Store With New Technology & An eCommerce Site

Even if you sell old-fashioned liquor, it can pay to update your store with fresh, modern tech.

If your POS system is outdated or you’re due for a refresh, then the holiday is the perfect time to act. This equipment can be expensive, but transactions can be completed in the click of two buttons. And with most new POS systems, you can track data about purchases to plan future orders.

An eCommerce site can also help you provide a convenient customer experience by fulfilling orders directly through the web. It can also show customers what your inventory looks like, without having them take a trip inside.

Before building an eCommerce site, though, be sure to verify that you’re complying with state regulations.

Holiday Marketing For Your Liquor Store

If your customers don’t know about your holiday promotions, then what’s the point? Holiday marketing can help you get the message across loud and clear.

First, be sure to keep your Google My Business profile up-to-date. This includes updating your hours of operation (if they’ve changed) for the holidays, responding to reviews, and more.

There are a few other ways to market your liquor store:

• SEO: Optimize your website for search engines to increase your chances of ranking for keyword terms in your area
• Social media: Post regularly, and pay for an extra boost during this high-sales period
• Local newspapers: Digital advertising is here to stay, but that doesn’t mean old-school advertising is out. Running ads for your liquor store in the local newspaper can help drive traffic inside, too.
• Email: Communicate with previous customers by sending emails about upcoming deals and events.

Liquor store business loans are one way to make sure you spend the right amount of money, instead of losing out.

Liquor Store Financing Qualifications

The barrier to entry for liquor store financing is much lower than you might think.

There’s no cut-and-dry answer when it comes to learning what the qualifications are, since there are so many different options. But in most cases, the qualifications are:

• At least 6 months in business
• At least $120K in annual sales
• 500+ credit score

Small Business Loans for Liquor Stores: What Are the Options?

So if you’re in the market for liquor store financing, what exactly are the best options?

• Term Loan: This straightforward option allows you to borrow a set amount of money, and pay back based on a fixed schedule. You can put the money toward any goal in your business— from payroll, to marketing, to inventory, or a combination— and there are no restrictions.
• Business Line of Credit: If you know you need money but you’re not sure how much, then a business line of credit is the perfect option. This liquor store financing option gives you access to a reservoir of funding, which you can draw from as you need it. As you earn more revenue and pay down what you owe, you can draw even more, and you’ll only be charged interest on what you take!
• Performance Advance: National’s Performance Advance Financing Solution allows you to qualify for higher funding amounts based on your performance. There are no FICO requirements, and payments are based on your day-to-day performance.

Ready to Raise the Bar? Get Started Now!

With the holidays around the corner, it’s best to get the ball rolling right away.

At National, you can apply and get funded in as low as 24 hours! After completing our 60-second digital application, a Business Financing Advisor will reach out to learn more about your business and answer any questions you might have. Then, we’ll help you choose the best option in our 75+ lender network, and can have the funds deposited in your account in the same day.

Get started by applying now!