Liquor Trade Secrets from Microsoft Small Business
The Top Trade Secret articles allow you to see what a fellow retailer in your retail vertical is doing to succeed. It offers a retailer's insights and "secrets" of success, along with details about how Microsoft Retail Management System has helped a business to thrive. So read on!
Business Name: Jerry's Wine Center in Broadview Heights, Ohio.
Jerry Stupka, who left a career as a vice president.
of international sales for a telecom company to open.
Jerry's Wine Center in Broadview Heights, Ohio, says.
the store is flourishing after two years in business.
Many small beer, wine and liquor stores fail within their first year. So how did Jerry Stupka, owner of Jerry's Wine Center, coax his small wine store into a popular destination which monthly hosts hundreds of devotees for wine tasting events?
He offered the following three liquor trade secrets:
1. | Focus on your customers. It may sound simplistic, but lavishing your customers with attention pays off in the long run, Stupka says. Introduce customers to your store, and make customers feel like they can ask any question. This is particularly important for wine, beer and liquor retail stores where customers can be overwhelmed by thousands of labels and brands. | ||||||
2. | Host regular in-store events. There's simply no better way to build customer loyalty, Stupka says. Jerry's Wine Center hosts weekly wine tastings, which often attract as many as 100 people. "It's how we went from zero customers to 3,000 in two years," he says. In fact, Stupka spends about $50,000 a year on marketing and buying food and wine for the tastings. The cost is well worth it because of the word-of-mouth advertising it gives his business, he says. | ||||||
3. | A reliable POS system helps boost sales. Knowing your inventory — what is selling and what is languishing on the shelves — is key to a successful wine shop. Before opening his store, Stupka shopped around for a reliable, POS system. He chose Microsoft Retail Management System because of its various inventory management features. He also wanted to invest money in a company with a solid reputation. "A small company may go out of business next year," Stupka says. "And they don't always have the support [staff]." Here's what Microsoft Retail Management System gave Jerry's Wine Store: On This Page
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A tightened inventory
Jerry's Wine Center's entire inventory is stored and tracked with Microsoft Retail Management System. Ordering is automated using reorder points, and can be generated daily. Items are bar coded, and if a product comes without one — as foreign wines often do — the system's Label Wizard easily generates them.
"I use nearly all the features in Microsoft Retail Management System," says Stupka. "But I depend on inventory tracking."
The POS system's assembly function for tracking SKUs that have been assembled into stock and special-order gift baskets has proven valuable, he says. "We want buyers to see what they're getting," he says, "but not each item's price. Our system lets us consolidate all 25 items under one SKU."
Because of his background as a well-traveled telecom executive, Stupka had a desire to apply his big-business experience to a small-business environment. He knew that accurate purchasing would be essential.
"Nearly every wine shop I visited had a poor idea of its inventory," Stupka says. He also saw customers rooting around aimlessly for a dusty bottle of the right variety and vintage, learned that there was often no efficient way of putting items on sale, and discovered that many store owners didn't know their profit margins.
While Jerry's is primarily a wine store with about 1,500 bottles, specialty items such as cheeses, corkscrews and gift baskets swell SKUs to 4,000, he says. Microsoft Retail Management System offered "superb inventory tracking," which gave him tighter controls on buying. Ordering is also automated so his customers never see an empty shelf, he says.
Stupka also added "Jerry's Tasting Room," a wine bar in his store. He found ways to customize Microsoft Retail Management System to meet his new needs.
"We run a tab using the Customer Quote function, which can give us a string of ongoing prices without requiring immediate payment." He also added a nonstock item called "Tip" whose price he fills in when the customer signs the tab.
Up-to-the-minute reports
Microsoft Retail Management System generates instant reports on anything from inventory to profit margins, taxes payable, gross sales and top-performing vendors, products and salespeople. "My item reports show whether sales and specials are successful and if I should adjust prices," he says. "This takes the guesswork out of pricing."
Active Reports: One of several reports that help retailers determine what's selling.
Accurate reporting promotes accurate buying, he says.
"We know exactly what we have at any given moment. And at inventory time, there is no better tool than the quantity lists I get in a couple of mouse clicks."
"Microsoft Retail Management System is easy to pick up," says Stupka. "All my employees learned it rapidly; some did so on their own."
Customer information for increased sales
His customers enjoy hearing about their buying histories, Stupka says.
"Customers like knowing what they bought and liked, or what they didn't. They walk in and demand to know what they bought last Thanksgiving. Executives tell gift-giving vendors or employees to 'Stop by Jerry's and pick up something I liked.' "
Microsoft Retail Management System's touch screen provides detailed information.
Another benefit the store derives from its expanding database is the ability to store an active client list of 3,000, he says.
"We use Microsoft Retail Management System to send out a monthly mailing about our events," says Stupka. "We can base mailings on customer purchase histories, then contact them by direct mail or e-mail.
Stupka can also analyze sales by wine type to determine new ordering levels, and by ZIP code to see how his market base is spread, he says, adding, "It gives me an amazing amount of information I use in marketing."