Selling Alcohol Online

[jodie98]

Hi,

I am starting an online business selling alcohol and have run into a few surprises, mainly needing a premises license as well as personal…

Just wondering if anyone else has gone down this road before and ran into obstacles they hadn’t thought about?

Also, did people find it hard to generate sales from social media presence? What sort of conversion rates should I expect from social media Ads etc?

Would love to know what I’m letting myself in for. Any general advice welcome.

Thank you very much

 

[WaveJumper]

If you are applying for a personal licence, you must obtain an accredited qualification first. The aim of the qualification is to ensure that licence holders are aware of licensing law and the wider social responsibilities involved in the sale of alcohol.

 

[fisicx]

There was a long thread about this topic a while back (can’t find it now), but the general opinion was it’s really difficult to make it work. Marketing and delivery costs are the biggest hurdle. Social media isn’t going to work and I think they don’t allow advertising for booze.

 

[jodie98]

If you are applying for a personal licence, you must obtain an accredited qualification first. The aim of the qualification is to ensure that licence holders are aware of licensing law and the wider social responsibilities involved in the sale of alcohol.

Hi thanks for getting back to me, I have a personal license already. Do you have any experience getting hold of a premises license? I’m hoping to share with a building that’s already got one, think this will be allowed? I.E two separate licenses under one roof for different businesses or sharing the same license maybe?

 

[jodie98]

There was a long thread about this topic a while back (can’t find it now), but the general opinion was it’s really difficult to make it work. Marketing and delivery costs are the biggest hurdle. Social media isn’t going to work and I think they don’t allow advertising for booze.

Hi thanks for getting back to me,

Do you have personal experience with this? I’d love to know more

 

[fisicx]

Not sold it myself but I do know it's not easy.

This might help:

What licences do you need to sell alcohol online? | Startups.co.uk

Here you can find all you need to know about the licences you'll need to sell alcohol online safely and legally in the UK.

startups.co.uk

Alcohol licensing

Information on the different types of alcohol licences available and guidance on how to apply for them.

www.gov.uk

But getting a license is a tiny part of the whole operation. As I said in my other post, you will need deep pockets to cover your marketing costs. The drinks industry speads millions on advertising. If you want to compete you need a decent budget. An other issue is finding a wholesaler who will supply the product. You then need to sort out packaging and a courier the will do the deliveries. Just getting everything set up wont be cheap.

Consider also, I can order alcohol from the supermarket and get it delivered next day. I can even pay extra to get it delivered today. Why would I want to buy from you?

 

[jodie98]

Not sold it myself but I do know it's not easy.

This might help:

What licences do you need to sell alcohol online? | Startups.co.uk

Here you can find all you need to know about the licences you'll need to sell alcohol online safely and legally in the UK.

startups.co.uk

Alcohol licensing

Information on the different types of alcohol licences available and guidance on how to apply for them.

www.gov.uk

But getting a license is a tiny part of the whole operation. As I said in my other post, you will need deep pockets to cover your marketing costs. The drinks industry speads millions on advertising. If you want to compete you need a decent budget. An other issue is finding a wholesaler who will supply the product. You then need to sort out packaging and a courier the will do the deliveries. Just getting everything set up wont be cheap.

Consider also, I can order alcohol from the supermarket and get it delivered next day. I can even pay extra to get it delivered today. Why would I want to buy from you?

Thanks again for your really detailed response, it’s very helpful.

We actually have most of this sorted and are ready to start our marketing campaign and delivering to customers as soon as the licensing is sorted.

If social media isn’t the way to go, what is? Was there a consensus from the last forum you remember about a good way to establish online presence or generate sales if socials didn’t work?

Many thanks again

 

[fisicx]

Advertising on social media can work. As does advertising anywhere. But this costs money.

I used to belong to a craft beer club. Each month I got a box of 12 beers. The business folded because they just couldn’t get enough subscriptions. They advertised in mens magazines, lifestyle websites, did mailshots and email campaigns. Still wasn’t enough. Marketing costs is the killer for so many businesses.

You don’t say if this is a subscription service or just an e-commerce store where I can buy a bottle of cheap Prosecco and get it delivered tomorrow for less than Tesco can do it.