Most independent liquor stores earn around 21% gross margin on their top-selling vodka and never question it. We built a free liquor store profit simulator to change that — a tool that lets any retailer enter their actual numbers and see exactly what their shelf is earning versus what it could earn.
A few months ago, I wrote The Liquor Store Margin Trap — an analysis of how independent retailers get squeezed by the structural economics of high-volume national brands. The response from retailers was significant. Store owners recognized the pattern immediately. Several wrote to say they had never actually run the margin math side by side for two brands at the same retail price.
That told us something important: the problem isn’t that retailers don’t care about margin. It’s that no one had ever given them a simple, honest way to compare what their shelf is actually earning versus what it could earn. So we built one.
What the Liquor Store Profit Simulator Does
The Liquor Store Profit Growth Simulator is a free, interactive tool. You enter your actual wholesale cost, retail price, and minimum order quantity for two brands. The simulator calculates gross profit per bottle, per case, per month, and per year — plus exactly how much cash each brand’s minimum order ties up in working capital.
There are already tools out there that help retailers set prices — POS software, suggested retail calculators, competitive pricing tools. They all answer the same question: what should I charge? This tool answers a different one: which brands are actually earning you money, and which ones are just moving volume while tying up cash?
Three Panels. One Clear Picture.
The Real Numbers: Felene vs. a Major National Brand
Using actual published wholesale pricing at 10 cases per month, here’s what the comparison looks like on a 750mL bottle priced at $21.99 retail:
| Metric | Felene® | National Brand |
|---|---|---|
| Wholesale cost / bottle | $14.49 | $16.53 |
| Retail price / bottle | $21.99 | $20.97 |
| Gross profit / bottle | $7.50 | $4.44 |
| Gross margin % | 34.1% | 21.2% |
| Minimum order | 5 cases | 30 cases |
| Cash required (min. order) | $869 | $5,951 |
| Annual GP (10 cases/mo) | $10,800 | $6,394 |
Same category. Same shelf. Same customer. $4,406 more gross profit per year — and $5,082 less cash tied up in minimum orders. Those aren’t projections. Those are the actual published wholesale numbers.
The Staff Power Panel — Something No Other Liquor Store Profit Simulator Calculates
Every other profitability tool stops at the margin math. We didn’t, because the margin math alone doesn’t capture the full opportunity. Here is what the research actually shows:
(Source: IRI Consumer Research / Nielsen Retail Studies)
That means on a typical day, nearly half the people walking into your vodka aisle don’t have a brand preference. If a staff member makes three knowledgeable recommendations for Felene, and 40% of those convert, that’s roughly 36 extra Felene bottles sold per month — generating over $3,200 in additional annual gross profit from staff engagement alone. No advertising. No promotions. No floor stack. Just a trained team recommending a product they believe in.
“Empowering staff to recommend high-margin products is the single highest-ROI action an independent liquor retailer can take. It costs nothing. It compounds daily. And it builds the kind of customer relationship that no national brand’s advertising budget can replicate.”
— Kim Laderer, President, Felene Inc.Why We Built This for Retailers, Not Just for Felene
This tool works for any two brands. Change the inputs to whatever you actually carry. Compare your top two vodkas, your top gin SKUs, your best-margin whiskey against your highest-volume whiskey. The Staff Power panel works regardless of which brand you’re modeling.
We built it for Felene’s sales story, yes. But the framework it introduces — thinking about gross profit per dollar of inventory invested rather than just velocity or margin percentage — is something every independent retailer should be applying to their entire floor. The brands that produce the best return on your working capital are rarely the ones with the biggest distributor push. The simulator makes that visible in about two minutes.
How to Use the Liquor Store Profit Simulator
The liquor store profit simulator is free at felenevodka.com/increase-liquor-store-profit-margin. No sign-up. No account required. Your inputs stay on your device.
First — change the default inputs to your actual numbers. Pull your last distributor invoice. The difference between what you assumed you were earning and what the simulator shows is often the most clarifying number you’ll see all year.
Second — move the Shift Scenario slider to 25%. That’s a conservative estimate of what happens if one in four national brand customers tries Felene instead. Look at the annual gross profit line.
Third — go to Panel C. Set the staff recommendations slider to 3 per day and the conversion rate to 40%. That is a realistic, conservative floor for what a trained team can produce. See what the annual number looks like. Then decide whether a 15-minute staff training session is worth it.
Try the Simulator — Free, No Sign-Up
Enter your actual wholesale cost, retail price, and minimum order for any two brands. See the real gross profit, cash flow, and what your staff’s recommendations are worth in annual dollars. Takes about two minutes.
Open the Free Profit Simulator →
