Online Liquor Store: How to Create, Setup, and Promote It in 2020

1. Why Going Online makes Sense
2. Do I Need a License to Sell Wine Online?
3. How to Sell Wine Internationally
4. How much Does it Cost to Open a Liquor Store?
5. What’s the Best Way to Start a Wine eCommerce Website?
6. How to do Online Store on WordPress
7. How to Open a Liquor Store with an Online Store Setup Service
8. How to Choose & Set Up Your Liquor Website Template
9. Online Store Themes for Inspiration

After the repeal of Prohibition, the alcohol industry started evolving rapidly and has gained significantly in recent years. Alcoholic beverage stores are mushrooming but the demand doesn’t seem to fall. If you want to catch a wave of success and start selling liquors, doing it online would be reasonable. In 2017, online sales of wine, liquor, and beer grew by 32.7% and they keep on growing. So, launching an online liquor store makes sense indeed.

While opening a liquor store sounds like a trifle, it’s more than picking up an eCommerce theme and adding your products there. Apart from financial and technical subtleties, there is a legal hassle, for instance. 

But don’t worry. This detailed guide on how to open a liquor store will lead you through the initial bureaucracy issues to the final technical touches on your website. 

Cheers to your success and let’s begin!

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Why Going Online makes Sense 

Before diving into the topic, it makes sense to say a few words about the benefits you can get when you open a liquor store online. Take a look at these numbers: 

• Since 2011, the sales of alcoholic beverages in the USA have jumped by 30% and keep on growing by 4.3% per year.
• In 2018, total alcoholic beverage sales in the United States reached a record number of $250 billion. 
• The market share of liquor online sales from 2016 to 2018 was 21.2%, which is almost two times more than beer’s market share.

Online retailing of alcoholic beverages is growing rapidly because of several reasons: 

1. New states are just entering the world of legal wine shipping. For instance, Pennsylvania received direct shipping permits first in 2016. 
2. The growth of the wine e-commerce is connected with the growth of e-commerce in general. According to the studies, 70% of United States citizens will buy groceries online by 2022. This number is now 49%. 
3. Such apps as Postmates and Uber Eats are making the process of food delivery super simple. They are imparting the ideas of ordering food online instead of cooking it or even going out. 
4. Digital marketing allows reaching a wider audience compared to the traditional one. TV ads, flyers, and billboards work with local clients. Online channels for advertisement help to acquire foreign clients. Apart from that, modern software analyzes the data of liquor buyers. It helps create personalized emails, special offers, and marketing campaigns. In other words, it contributes to a long-term trustful relationship with a client. 

Food and beverages are becoming the main focus of online retailing. Those who deny the technical progress and don’t adjust to the new market’s rules might stay behind. 

Now, let’s go into some details of opening a liquor store. Here are the answers to the most common questions. 

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Do I Need a License to Sell Wine Online? 

Yes, you need a license to sell wine online. The system can be quite complicated.

Some licenses allow direct-to-consumer shipping, while others only allow shipping within a state–not out of state. Some licenses allow shipping only to particular states, while others only allow shipping a particular quantity of alcohol. Apart from that, there are different laws for wineries and retailers.

Alcohol laws regulate a business not only in your own state but also in the states where your customers live.

Before you go nuts, take a look at this awesome guide from the WineSpectator.

It gives information on whether D2C winery and retailer shipping in a particular state is allowed. Also, you can find out volume limits for each state. There are also some exclusive marks, so-called “buts.”

The resource drew up two amazing winery and out-of-state retailer direct shipping maps.

Keep in mind that the US Postal Service will not ship alcohol. FedEx and United Parcel Service (UPS) will deal with it but you have to meet their requirements, including: 

• signing an alcohol shipping agreement
• following their packaging rules to prevent leaks and breakage
• putting special signs on the packaging pointing out that there is alcohol inside
• using the Adult Signature option (a delivery form should contain a signature of the 21+ years old recipient) 

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How to Sell Wine Internationally 

Your online liquor store can appear on the international market. The following steps can help make your presence on the market strong. 

1. Make Sure You Meet Shipping Requirements 

Not only every US state, but also every country has their own alcohol laws and shipping requirements. Before accepting orders from abroad, make sure you meet their laws and shipping policy. 

2. Think about Secure Packaging 

The shipment will undertake a long journey to the customers. Make sure that neither various transportation methods nor messy deliverymen will prevent your customers from savoring a glass of wine. 

Here is a reliable type of packaging. Add some bubble wrap and the bottles will cross the Atlantic unharmed: 

3. Check out Customs Documentation 

As a seller, you are responsible for all customs documentation. You should provide a package with several certificates and sanitary statements to satisfy the customs requirements. You can check out the required documentation on the official TTB website.

Documentation is one of the biggest hassles you will meet when selling wine internationally. As the saying goes, if you want to have something you never had, start doing something you never did:)

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How much Does it Cost to Open a Liquor Store?

Let’s move from bureaucracy issues to the financial.

The cost to open a liquor store on the Internet is another benefit of going online. Instead of renting or buying store premises, you buy hosting and secure a place on the internet. Instead of doing building repairs, you buy a template and add, edit, and remove page elements in a matter of clicks. You still have a certain amount of maintenance to do to be successful.

Still, an exact answer to this question is impossible because startup costs depend on many factors: 

1. legal fees, taxes, and licenses vary in different countries and states 
2. the type of business model: traditional retail or dropshipping
3. the type of alcoholic beverage: fine or mainstream wine
4. the suppliers 
5. a liquor store POS system
6. the theme and related additional costs (installation and setup, plugins, etc.)
7. the services of the web designer 

If you decide to go offline, substitute the last two items with mandatory liability insurance; theft, fire, and business interruption insurance; and stocking the premises with aesthetically appealing equipment (shelving, refrigeration, etc.). Depending on the location, the physical premises can cost between $175,000 and $920,000.

As you see, calculating liquor store startup costs without some raw data is almost impossible.

To calculate your liquor store start up cost, you need approximate figures for at least the seven aforementioned items. 

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What’s the Best Way to Start a Wine eCommerce Website?

Though we can’t tell you the exact cost to open a liquor store, we can guide you in the process of creating an online liquor store. 

Usually, the e-commerce platform is the first thing people who want to open an online store will puzzle over. 

If we consider usage distribution in the top 1 million sites, we will see that: 

• WooCommerce market share across the web is 26%
• Shopify maintains 20% of all e-commerce stores 

These eCommerce platforms seem to be absolute leaders in the market. But are they good indeed? What’s the best choice for starting a liquor store? 

The best way to answer these questions is to compare the basic and additional features. 

Shopify	WooCommerce
a subscription service	an open-source e-commerce plugin for WordPress
offers hosting and subdomain + opportunity to pick up own domain name	strong integration with a WordPress website
offers product management options	offers product management options
has various payment gateways	has various payment gateways
standard customer management	customer management through third-party add-ons
hundreds of standard themes + third-party themes	thousands of free and paid third-party themes
mobile-friendly	mobile-friendly depending on the theme
an opportunity to edit HTML and CSS
unlimited bandwidth	bandwidth depends on the hosting plan
analytics and reports on sales and store performance	analytics and reports on sales and store performance
various sales channels (Point of Sale, Facebook module, a buy button, etc.)	thousands of plugins
hundreds of Shopify apps

On the surface, the standard technical parameters are more or less the same. The details though might help you to choose one of the eCommerce platforms. For instance, Shopify already has a POS system allowing you to sell wine either online or offline. The fact that you don’t need any extra tools (e. g. cash registers) can save you money.

Another important thing to consider is design. The aesthetically appealing website makes the visitors stay longer and, as a result, buy more. Approximately 38% of Internet users admitted that they won’t recommend a website with a poor layout.

Shopify’s themes are modern, trendy, tasteful, and upscale. They suit a wide number of business niches. Still, there are only ten free themes so far. Seems like Shopify is fighting with free themes and it reduces their numbers.

A paid option will cost $75-$180. You can find affordable Shopify themes on the TemplateMonster marketplace. 

As WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin, there is no such thing as WooCommerce design. You just pick up an existing WordPress website with an existing design and add e-commerce functionality with a plugin. 

There are both pros and cons. 

The good thing is that you don’t go through much of a hassle if you already have a WordPress website.

Apart from that, there are thousands of multipurpose and niche WordPress themes for various tastes and pockets, including free solutions. The choice is wide indeed and you can ensure it by checking out these WooCommerce compatible themes.

On the other hand, some parts of the store might not be displayed in the way you expect them to. In such cases, you either change a theme or dive into CSS if you are capable. It doesn’t happen as a rule but you should be aware of it.

It’s hard to say which e-commerce platform is better for opening an online liquor store. Each of them finds its users.

To sum up, it’s important to say that WooCommerce is extremely flexible in customization but it requires more work. Shopify stands out with its out-of-the-box quality and has an awesome web design toolkit.

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How to do Online Store on WordPress

As understood, you can open a liquor store on WordPress with WooCommerce. The plugin is free itself. Still, there are some additional costs such as: 

• a domain name ($10-$15 a year) 
• hosting ($5-$25 a month)
• an SSL certificate (~$70 a year)
• a theme (~$70-$130 once) 
• plugins and add-ons (~$25 one) 
• installation & setup (if needed) – from $50 

The first three items are must-have but you can save. For instance, Bluehost offers a free SSL certificate starting with the simplest plan.

You can find out more about Bluehost and its benefits in this review. 

The process of setting up WooCommerce is simple. In the beginning, you can use a guideline or do it yourself by clicking “I don’t need help” button:

A couple of things to point out while opening a liquor store and setting it up are payments, currency, and shipping.

You can set them up with the help of the Setup Wizard that you will find in the notification on the WordPress dashboard.

The Wizard creates pages for Shop, Cart, Account, and Checkout automatically when you click the “Continue” button.

Then, you choose the location of the online liquor store and the currency. Afterward, you will set up shipping and tax information. You sell wine, so you will ship physical goods. So, check the appropriate box: 

Next, WooCommerce can help you calculate your taxes. If you aren’t sure about them now, you can skip this step and return to it later.

Then, you have to choose the payment method. WooCommerce supports PayPal, PayPal Standard, and Stripe payment gateways. You can add other methods that are compatible with WooCommerce.

PayPal Standard payment is one of the most convenient ones. You add your PayPal email, click “Continue,” and proceed.

For customers, Stripe is even more user-friendly. They don’t have to leave the website to enter their payment data. With Stripe, they can add their credit card information right on the checkout page.

Congrats! You have set up an online liquor store.

Now, you can start adding the products.

Go to Products > Add new. Come up with a title and a description for the first product. Then, add a Product Category. Click “Add New Product Category” in the right column:

The more structured your online liquor store is, the easier it will be for the customers to shop. Intuitive navigation improves the user experience and makes them more likely to come back. In this article, you can find out more ways to increase conversions of WooCommerce product pages. 

Next, you will proceed to the Product Databox, where you can add information about prices, shipping, and inventory. Below, there is a window with a product description. The customers will see it when they view several products on the page. Then, you can add the main product picture and a gallery. 

Make sure you give detailed information. Descriptions are not just a bunch of words. The right descriptions will boost conversions.

As you see, setting up an online liquor store is not that complicated, especially if you do it with WordPress.

However, there is still an easier way to open a liquor store.

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How to Open a Liquor Store with an Online Store Setup Service

WooCommerce offers an intuitive setup that requires no coding skills. Still, the ultimate service to get your web store online hassle-free will save even more time. Plus, the guys who set it up master their skills every day and deal with issues that might appear during setup.

What’s an online store setup service? 

The TemplateMonster team can take the aforementioned set up steps for you. They will configure the store, including pricing, shipping parameters, and taxes. The team will also configure basic Google Analytics settings. 

As a result, you get a ready-made optimized store that you can fill with products.

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How much does it cost?

The service has four packages that include a different number of options. The prices start at $99 and go up to $705 for an All-in-One package.

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How long does it take to set up a store?

It takes different times to set up a store depending on the package: 

• Quick, Classic – 1 business day
• Premium – 2 business days 
• All-in-One – 5 business days to set up a store + 20 days for SEO 

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What are the benefits of using the service? 

Depending on the package, you can get various benefits. First, you save time and avoid the technical hassle. You pay once and get the work done within a couple of days. Those who have never built an online liquor store will need much more time for that.

Second, although using WooCommerce is not about coding, some technical issues might still appear. The experienced developers who set up your store will solve them fast and prevent their emergence later.

Third, the team has resourceful specialists with vast knowledge. They have faced hundreds of cases, learned from mistakes, and now can use their experience and skills to give a promising start to your online liquor store. 

At the end of the day, the price for your stress-free Friday evening is not big but the result is worth it. 

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Who can use it?

Everyone who wants to save time and entrust the setup process to experienced specialists can take advantage of this.

The site’s performance optimization is offered to WooCommerce and PrestaShop only. On-page SEO optimization is limited to English, Russian, and Ukrainian languages. For any other opportunities, contact a pre-sales manager in a Live Chat.

The size of the store is limited to 1000 products.

The niche of the store doesn’t matter.

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How to Choose & Set Up Your Liquor Website Template

When it comes to choosing a liquor website template, it’s important to understand:

• how you want it to look
• what features are essential 

There is a checklist for the must-have features for an online store theme: 

1. Responsiveness and Compatibility with the Major Browsers 

It goes without saying that an online store must be responsive and compatible with all major browsers. Your customers will shop from different devices and browsers. A responsive store contributes to a wonderful user experience. 

Moreover, Google adores responsive and mobile-friendly websites and ranks them higher.

So, pay attention to such labels as “Responsive,” “Mobile-Friendly,” and “Cross-browser Compatibility.”

2. SEO-Friendliness and Light Weight 

The small weight of a template can be achieved through particular practices in coding. A lightweight template is more user-friendly because a website takes less time to upload. 

A template can also already be optimized toward search engines and for speed. That means that the online store has more chances to be ranked higher. Also, you will go through less hassle when setting up the store.

So, pay attention to the label “SEO-friendly.” Check out the requirements for software and hosting. There, the required amount of disk space is stated. You will also find out the weight of the template.

3. Social Integration 

The right e-commerce theme should provide social integration – an opportunity to link a social account to a website. Add a well-working social button and your customers will get an opportunity to talk about your store in their social media.

Pay attention to such labels as “Social Options.”

4. Multiple Pre-Made Pages for different Purposes 

The right e-commerce template includes a couple of ready-made pages. Pay attention to whether must-have pages such as Homepage, Shop, Single Product, Gallery, Contact Us, About Us, Testimonials pages are included.

There could be different layouts and variations of the pages.

The template can contain additional pre-made pages such as Blog, 404 Page, Under Construction, etc.

5. Different UI Elements 

UI elements are a visual language of the online store. They also contribute to intuitive navigation and positive user experience. 

Of course, you can add the elements with the help of plugins. Since the plugins do have weight, it’s better to choose a template with already existing important elements.

Pay particular attention to such components as drop-down menus, accordions, carousels, buttons, tabs, cards, countdown elements, calendars, checkboxes, icons, progress bars, sidebars, and tooltips.

A good e-commerce template includes web forms (contact, search, newsletter, etc.). 

6. Support 

It would be great if a provider offered support. Many themes and templates come with 24/7 support, which is great. If any issues arise, there is a great chance that it will be solved quickly. 

That was a universal checklist of the must-have features. You can check out this other checklist for more insights. 

What is individual is the unique design and a layout that sells. Make sure it looks aesthetically appealing and meets the conception of your business. For instance, a fancy pink theme doesn’t suit an online liquor store. 

Speaking of the setup, WordPress has quite an intuitive one. If you still face difficulties, you can apply for an online store setup service.

As you now know how to choose an online liquor store theme, let’s check out some available options.

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Online Store Themes for Inspiration

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That was the last item in the collection of the inspiring themes for an online liquor store. 

How do you choose a suitable one? Make sure that it highlights the concept of your store. A classy and elegant theme would fit a store with fine wines. A minimalistic theme can be suitable for wines from the New World. Bright and colorful themes would look awesome on a website with wines from Africa or South America.

All of the themes are customizable. So, it’s easy to make changes until the store meets your expectations. 

We hope that opening a liquor store will become an exciting journey, where you take control over the process just like the driver. Remember not to break the speed limit and not to drive drunk 🙂 

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