Is the above a new unique way to sell package beer?
Are customers saying "This is the coolest way to buy beer" "Why didn't someone think of this before?"
Packaging is nothing new to our industry, we see it all the time. A product changes a label and then all of a sudden it's a hit. Sometimes its a chart topper staying at number one for a season or two like a Mojito or Cosmopolitan mix, or a multi-year seller like Yellowtail or Barefoot wines.
Our customers are driven to unique labels, bright colors, creative marketing or something shiny...bling bling, like a Northern Pike when it sees a daredevil... totally irresistible.
We as managers need to be "tuned In" to the trends. How am I supposed to know what to buy in Hawley? What about those in Miltona, Vesta, Vergas, Blue Earth?, I could keep going with all the stores in greater Minnesota.
The answer is..... talk to other municipal stores in your area to see what is moving for them.
I talk with area managers in larger stores to see if I'm missing the boat on a new product or if I can let that boat sail into the sunset without adding a slow moving item to my inventory.
In regards to the unique way of packaging beer....
I was in Fergus Falls on my way to the Alexandria regional meeting and I had to take a picture of this............
Brian told me that way back in the day.. ha (just kidding Brian) in the mid to late 70's his store would order pallets of these during mid January for the Winnipeg to St. Paul I500 snowmobile race, as Hamm's was one of the major sponsors.
Hopefully we will all be around to see the newest version of a home draft system many years in the future!!! And maybe Svedka Vodka is the number one vodka of 2033!!
Merry Christmas and to all a G.S.S. (Great Selling Season)
Michael Friesen
Hawley Liquors Manager
MMBA Director
