Franchise marketing for liquor stores and wine shops brings customers to the liquor store or wine shop near them for advice, tastings and gifts. We take over that marketing for head office: one approach centrally, delivered locally for each store.
What makes marketing for liquor store chains different?
Customers often buy drinks for an occasion: a dinner, a party, a gift. Advice and range are what set a store apart from the supermarket. Tastings and events attract a loyal circle of customers.
That is why franchise marketing for liquor stores and wine shops does not start with the brand, but with the moment a customer nearby makes a choice.
How do customers search for liquor stores and wine shops?
Customers rarely search for the franchise brand's name. They search for their question and choose from whatever appears nearby.
| Search query | What the location needs in order to be chosen |
|---|---|
| liquor store [town] | Profile with opening hours and range |
| whisky shop advice | Specialities per store |
| wine tasting [town] | Events bookable |
| order drinks as corporate gifts | Corporate gift service |
How the same question sounds in an AI assistant
In ChatGPT, Gemini or Google AI Overviews, customers ask longer questions, for example: "Which liquor store near me has a large whisky range and organises tastings?" An AI can only recommend a store if those details appear literally in its profile, reviews and location page. That is why we combine local visibility with outsourcing local SEO for the franchise brand.
What goes wrong at liquor store chains?
A head office marketing team often only spots these problems once franchisees complain about them. We look for them in advance.
Range unknown
Specialities are nowhere to be found online.
Events impossible to find
Tastings are only announced in the store.
Business market left untapped
Corporate gifts are not promoted.
Age check missing in communications
A risk in online communications.
Our approach for liquor stores and wine shops
For each channel we set out what we do for liquor stores and wine shops. In the scan we test the order of priorities against the figures for your locations.
| Channel | Focus for liquor stores and wine shops |
|---|---|
| Google Business Profile | Range, events as posts, photos |
| Store pages | Specialities, tastings and business service |
| Events and offers for over-18s | |
| Social media | Advice and new products, within the alcohol advertising rules |
| Review management | Responses about advice and service |
No time or expertise in-house? Leave your franchise marketing to us.
Rules and points of attention for liquor stores and wine shops
Alcohol advertising falls under the Dutch Advertising Code for Alcoholic Beverages (Reclamecode voor Alcoholhoudende dranken): not aimed at minors and with the mandatory slogan. Sell only to over-18s.
We record these agreements in the franchise brand's style guide, so that every location does the same. If there is legal doubt, we consult your lawyer.
What does better visibility deliver for liquor store chains?
The NFV food retail sector, under which we classify liquor stores and wine shops, counted 114 franchise brands with 7,536 locations and €21.9 billion in revenue in 2025. That is an average of around €2.9 million in revenue per location per year. The worked example below shows the revenue effect at which the Growth package pays for itself.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Average revenue per location per year | €2,906,051 |
| Per month | €242,171 |
| 1% extra revenue per year | €29,061 |
| Cost of the Growth package per year | €3,000 |
| Break-even point: required revenue growth | 0.10% |
Which KPIs count for liquor store chains?
In addition to the standard KPIs in our monthly report (visibility, customer actions, reviews and position in Maps), in this sector we also look at:
| KPI | Why |
|---|---|
| Direction requests | Store visits |
| Tasting sign-ups | Customer loyalty |
| Business orders | Higher order value |
When should you plan marketing for liquor stores and wine shops?
December, Father's Day and the summer (barbecues and parties) are the peaks. If you only start when the peak begins, you are too late. We prepare profiles and campaigns a month in advance.
How do we get started with franchise marketing for liquor stores and wine shops?
No big up-front project, but a ninety-day plan. In that period we set up the basics, run the first campaigns and deliver a report per location. After that, you decide whether we roll out to all the liquor store locations in your franchise brand.
| Period | What we do |
|---|---|
| Weeks 1-2 | Baseline measurement at three locations on search queries such as liquor store [town] and whisky shop advice, plus an AI test with fixed questions |
| Weeks 3-4 | Google Business Profile: range, events as posts, photos |
| Month 2 | Store pages and email: events and offers for over-18s |
| Month 3 | Social media live and first monthly report with direction requests and tasting sign-ups |
Checklist: is your liquor store brand in good shape online?
- Profile with opening hours and range
- Specialities per store
- Events bookable
- Corporate gift service
- Review management: responses about advice and service
Can you not tick off every point for every location? Then the free scan shows exactly where the gains are.
Who works on franchise marketing for liquor stores and wine shops?
Our permanent team works on franchise marketing for liquor stores and wine shops: founder Gijs Bodenstaff maintains contact with your head office, Angela analyses local visibility and leads per location, Elisabeth manages local Google Ads and Peter builds local authority. Ten regular freelancers, trained by us, handle profile management and reviews for each location. Read more about the people behind this agency.
Related sectors and services for liquor stores and wine shops
This page belongs to marketing for supermarket and food brands. Similar sectors are franchise marketing for convenience stores and marketing for supermarket chains. For liquor stores and wine shops we focus mainly on email with a local sender and location pages with schema. You can read what it costs under outsourcing franchise marketing; you can start with our four-step way of working.
Frequently asked questions about franchise marketing for liquor stores and wine shops
Are we allowed to advertise on social media?
How do we attract business customers for corporate gifts?
What does franchise marketing for liquor stores and wine shops cost?
From how many locations is this worthwhile for liquor store chains?
Do you also work for liquor store chains that are not franchises?
What do franchisees of liquor store chains notice from this?
How do customers search for an off-licence or wine shop nearby?
How can an off-licence chain make wine tastings and events visible online?
How can an off-licence chain get AI assistants to mention the range in each shop?
What should an off-licence chain watch out for in email marketing and online communication?
Sources
Gijs Bodenstaff
Franchise marketer, local SEO and GEO specialist, author
Curious how the locations of your liquor store brand are doing? Request the free scan of three locations.