Can Convenience Stores Become a New Option for Happy Hour?

Every convenience store owner’s goal is to maximize revenue by cementing repeat and consistent customer flow through the establishment. However, it can be challenging to achieve this goal if you lack a concrete convenience store marketing strategy. 

Like any other modern, competitive business, your success depends on how well you market yourself. But don’t worry if you have no clue how or where to start. This article will share a little-known marketing strategy that has the potential of turning your establishment into a beehive of activities, increasing your sales and profits. We’re talking about leveraging happy hour promotions to attract more returning customers to your store. 

Curious to learn more? Here are five tips on making your convenience store a new option for happy hour!

1. Promote Your Store’s Special Offers During Happy Hours

Happy hours are ideal for promoting special offers at your convenience store. You can do so in several ways.

• Offer discounted drinks and snacks during these times. For example, offer $3 off all soft drinks, $5 off all bottled water, and $2 off all popcorn. These discounts are low enough to entice customers to purchase your products but high enough to encourage them to return frequently.
• Offer freebies with purchases. Offer a free drink with every purchase of a specific size or provide a free small bag of chips with each purchase of a particular value.
• Offer a discount on a specific product. For instance, offer a 10% discount on all hot dogs.
• Offer a coupon code that allows customers to get additional savings when buying multiple items.
• Add a special menu item to your regular menu. For instance, add a “Happy Hour Punch.”
• Offer a promotion for a limited time only. For instance, offer free popcorn from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Mondays.
• Offer a promotion during the weekdays when fewer people visit your store.

2. Increase Customer Loyalty With Regular Happy Hour Events

Customers love to feel like they’re getting something extra whenever they come to your store. So, what kind of events should you hold regularly? Here are some ideas:

• Hold a weekly event:

Host a trivia night once a week or organize a game night every Friday.

• Host a monthly event:

Hold a movie night once a month or invite local bands to play music once a month.

• Hold a seasonal event:

Celebrate Halloween by giving away candy or hosting a holiday party.

• Hold an annual event:

Throw a big birthday bash on your store’s anniversary for your employees and loyal customers.

• Hold a one-time event:

 Give out free ice cream cones on Fridays or hold a customer appreciation day where everyone gets a free soda or snack.

3. Run the Drink While Grocery Shopping Campaign

The idea behind this campaign is simple: when people go grocery shopping, they often need to stop at their favorite convenience stores along the way. This means that they will be more likely to make impulse buys if there’s a drink available. To take advantage of this opportunity, consider running the following promotions:

• Have a drink special. For example, have a $1 beer on Tuesdays or have $4 pitchers of margaritas on Thursdays.
• Provide a drink special with a coupon. For instance, offer $1 beers on Tuesdays with a coupon good for any other beverage.

4. Promote Your Store Through Social Media Marketing

Social media has become a powerful tool for businesses to reach consumers. You can use it to promote your business 24/7 without paying for advertising. If you haven’t already started using social media to market your business, now is a perfect time.

You don’t even have to invest a lot of money to get started. Simply use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, LinkedIn, Snapchat, TikTok, and other platforms to share information about your products and services.

Mainly, you want to take advantage of these platforms to maximize the exposure for your happy hour specials. This ensures that you reach a much larger audience than if you only advertised in print publications.

 Here are a few tips on how to run a successful happy hour promotion on social media:

• Post clear pictures of your happy hour specials and link to them. Clear images are excellent because they allow you to capture attention quickly. They also allow you to add a personal touch to your posts.
• Use hashtags when posting. Hashtags are keywords that appear before a post on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Using hashtags helps users find your happy hour posts easily.
• Add links to your website and blog. Adding links to your website and blogs allows readers to learn more about your company and the happy hour specials you’re running.
• Add videos to your posts. Videos are perfect for capturing attention quickly and helping visitors understand what your business offers better than text alone.
• Finally, consistency is key; you want to post consistently throughout the day so that your followers know when to expect your content.

It is best practice to get your customers involved in social media by asking them what they think about your happy hour specials and other services. They might provide some great ideas for future promotions. You can also use that chance to run contests, sweepstakes, or giveaways.

5. Offer Free Samples

Samples are one of the most effective ways to market your products and services. People love free samples. They get to try an item before buying it. And once they’ve tried it, they’re more likely to purchase it.

So, if you want to increase sales, you should consider offering samples of your products and services. The easiest way to do this is to ask your customers to bring their containers. Then, simply fill them up with whatever product or service you sell.

However, you want to be careful not to be too generous with your inventory in the name of customer satisfaction. Here are a few tips on how to make it a win-win affair:

• Be sure to offer samples only once per person. 
• Make sure to label each sample container clearly.
• Be sure to include a signup sheet where people can indicate what they feel about the samples and whether they’d like to receive more in the future.
• Remember, if you over-sample, people will start thinking that there’s no need to buy the product in the first place.

The Bottom Line

So there you have it! These are the top five marketing strategies to grow your convenience store business. Hopefully, these ideas will help you improve your marketing efforts.

If you’d like to discover more innovative ideas for convenience stores, we’ve got you covered. At Storflex, we’re committed to helping retail stores like yours succeed through innovative, efficient, and customized manufacturing capabilities. We leverage our state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, providing the fastest lead times on retail store fixture displays.

Our goal is simple – to provide the best value for your dollar by creating custom solutions that exceed your expectations. Contact us today to learn how we can increase your revenue and foot traffic with superior display solutions.