Spirits Category Advice

Are you making the most of your spirits category?

• Spirit sales continue to grow in the off-trade as people drink at home more often rather than in pubs and bars
  
• Sales of spirits account for an average 3.3% of total store turnover in a typical UK convenience store - that's £22,412 a year
  
• Spirit shoppers are really valuable to convenience stores
  
• Visit 20% more often than non-spirit shoppers
  
• Spend more than twice as much in a year than those who don't buy spirits

Range

Getting range on spirits right can increase sales by 9% (1). More products does not equal more profit!

Merchandising

Laying out spirits in a logical way can increase sales by 5% (2) as it's easier for customers to find what they are looking for.

Display

Making spirits more visible by putting them on display can increase sales by 138% (3)

• 1 in 9 shoppers said they would buy more spirits if they were displayed off shelf (4)
  
• Ensure displays are visible
  
• Consider displaying different brands at different times of the year
  
• Making displays from empty gift boxes eliminates the theft issue
  

Promotions

Running promotions on spirits makes you appear more competitive and better value for money.

• Nearly three quarters of shoppers would like to see more promotions (5)
  
• Pass on the promotions you receive from your supplier to your customers
  
• Ensure that promotions you run on alcoholic drinks encourage people to drink responsibly
  
• Consider running promotions which aren't based purely on price e.g. link saves on related product

Visible Pricing

Show your prices and grow your profits

• Shoppers are embarrassed to ask for price
  
• As products are behind the counter, prices are hard to read
  
• The actual price is not the most important thing to convenience shoppers - Customer service is the
  

most important and convenience shoppers will pay a 14% premium on supermarket prices (6)

1. Diageo Retailer test 2001
   
2. Diageo Retailers test 2005
   
3. A convenience retailer 2002 value sale vs 2001 value sales
   
4. HIM CTP 2005
   
5. TNS Harris Retail research 1999
   
6. HIM CTP 2005
   

View the shelf layout based on a 1m fixture here.

The following recommended range for spirits is based on a store that dedicates approx 5 x 1m shelves to spirits. If a store has more/ less space, range should be adjusted accordingly. There will also be some products that perform particularly well in certain stores due to their regionality, which do not appear in the recommended range. These should be added in at a retailers discretion.