Business and Employee Discount Programs

I have recently started working full-time at a wine store. We are located in the financial district of a major city. We are hoping to increase our business with the many companies that are our neighbors and their employees. Are these programs worthit? Without sharing any proprietary information, can you share your experience how you started your program and how it works?

Very much appreciate any observations.

Thanks.

Jacques
ITB

I am bumping this because I have not received any response. Is this an inappropriate question? You can PM me if that would make you more comfortable. Thanks

I know in the company I work for the business and employee discount is the same, 10% (case price). Now by employee we are talking about the employees of the store not employees of our neighboring businesses.

Only makes sense if the increase in volume you’re moving increases proportionally to the discount you’re offering to cover the bottom line. Corporate accounts are typically what you’d be looking for as they’re buying a significant amount more than an neighboring employee or single-party (generally). Employee discounts are usually offered out of goodwill by the store & becomes a ‘perk’ for employees, not a money making endeavor by the store.

Too many variables are unknown to truly advise if this type of program makes sense for you. Things like markup, volume, turnover, and average bottle cost / average purchase volume would be a place to start with analyzing your cost-benefit tradeoff.

I knew a place that offered 10% off people that lived in the region if they had an address nearby on their ID. It was great.

I work in a shop that has many high end stores around me. We offer anyone who works in the district 10% off. We bake it into the margin.

agree with the above - I have had 2 retail experiences (come from the restaurant world) and 1 offered a loyalty program and 1 did not (but did do discounts on a case) depends on your traffic, amount of business, what your margins are, etc - you have to weigh what the other stores are doing (competition) and work to be better in some way to get a bigger share. Targeting business in the neighborhood is a good tactic to grow corporate sales - extended delivery hours, more personal service, a discount of some kind that is special to them – all these tools can be used to grow your business and make you an integral part of your neighborhood - I am personally a big fan of hospitality (I am a Danny Meyer guy) as a valuable tool.

As for employees: both places that I have worked allowed staff to purchase wine at cost not including allocated items.

There really is no rule (at least that I have found) on how to grow - there are many paths to try

In Indiana I’m not even sure it is legal. You can give bulk discounts (10% on 6 btls is most common). But you cannot offer pricing to one group, or individual, and not everyone else.

JD

Right, there are places where it isn’t legal. I’ve seen general customer loyalty programs work well, and in some cases that might be legal where a similar program for only certain people is not. Plus, why discriminate? I would think if such a program is worthwhile at all, it’s worthwhile to try to earn more business and loyalty from anyone, not just employees of certain businesses. Maybe you think there’s a lot of untapped potential with these companies’ employees that couldn’t be gained otherwise, but that might also be the case for lots of other customers (and probably is, even more so since you’d be targeting a much larger group).