The growth of the craft beer industry has spurred the rise of the specialty liquor stores – retail outlets that carry a wide array of craft beers. These stores have differentiated themselves in a number of ways – by carrying the most variety, having the staff with the most expertise, etc. One thing seems to be a constant though – the way they display their beer selection. Every retailer I’ve been to is the same – a long row of glass display cases with bright fluorescent lighting.
Sure, this is the industry standard, but why not shake it up a bit?
A liquor store could modify the doors and lighting in order to best preserve the beer. The refrigerators could be changed to operate more like standard home refrigerator – opaque doors with no lights on the inside until you open them. Bold visual depictions (using either brewery logos or images of the beer bottles) could be clearly labeled on the outside doors of the refrigerated cases to quickly tell the browsing customer what’s inside. This strategy would protect the bottles of beer from constant exposure to the fluorescent lighting of the refrigerated display cases (of course this isn’t a problem with canned beer.) These strategies could set a liquor store apart from its peers as the market leader in beverage storage.
However, there is a tradeoff with this strategy. Because the beer is hidden away it has lower product visibility which certain breweries and distributors would not be happy about. However, the liquor store would more than make up for any lost sales by positioning themselves as the retailer with the best preserved (and therefore best tasting) beer in their market. By focusing their marketing efforts on how much attention they pay to the way their beer is stored, they will be able to bring in new customers who are willing to drive further for the perceived better tasting product.
photo courtesy of www.lakeairebottleshoppe.com
As a specialty beer retailer myself I was very interested in your thoughts on display and refrigeration. You hit on some very good points as well as some of the difficulties of going to a more beer friendly set up.
I would add one point in favor of the beer retailer and the current set up. Now I can’t speak for every specialty beer retailer but I know that in my case I manage my inventory very aggressively and rarely have any product on the shelf for more than 7 days. If a retailer effectively manages inventories, rotates products correctly and keeps on his distributors to insure they are doing the same then you virtually eliminate issues.
Thanks for the thought provoking post.
Good points, Rick. It’s great to have a perspective of someone in the retail industry on this topic. My ideas are mostly outside observations and I don’t always know the in’s & out’s, so its helpful to have your views as well. Thanks for stopping by!