On-Premise and Off-Premise Data Insights: What’s The Difference?

Created over 20 years ago, POS systems allow establishments to record and process all their transactions in real-time. However, retailers aren’t the only ones who benefit from these insights. Today, suppliers can leverage both on-premise and off-premise POS data to introduce new alcoholic products to the market and increase the sales of existing products. 

Modern POS systems can throw light on metrics such as sales, item pricing, regional trends, and more, all of which can be used to inform marketing efforts. Put in its most simple terms POS analytics give suppliers insights into sales trends across category, brand, and geography. It helps a supplier track which brands sell often and with higher profit margins, so they can price and promote alcoholic products to generate more revenue. 

The Difference Between On-Premise and Off-Premise Alcohol Sales

On-premise sales are direct consumer sales for consumption on the premises of an establishment. Examples of “on-premise establishments” include:

• Bars
• Restaurants
• Breweries
• Wineries 
• Sports Stadiums
• Music Venues
• And more

On the other side of the spectrum, off-premise sales are wine, spirit, or beer sales that happen at retail locations such as:

• Grocery stores
• Liquor stores
• And even big-box retailers 

The term "off-premise" in this case literally means that the product purchased will be consumed off the premises, such as at the end consumer’s home. 

Knowing how off-premises outlets (e.g., liquor and convenience stores) and on-premises outlets (e.g., bars and restaurants) differ in alcohol sales trends is vital to helping suppliers better plan and implement their sales strategy.

Approximately 80% of alcohol sales are conducted at off-premise retail establishments, with the remaining 20% of alcohol sales taking place at on-premise establishments. However, this statistic can be misleading. On-premise alcohol sales still result in significantly more revenue because bar and restaurant prices are way higher than establishments like grocery stores. To put this into perspective, as off-premise sales rose and on-premise sales declined during the pandemic, total annual alcohol revenue still declined because off-premise establishments weren’t able to make up the loss in revenue from on-premise sales.

The Benefits of Off-premise Data Insights

That’s not to say that off-premise point of sale data analysis should be ignored. Grocers have gotten a pleasant buzz from off-premise beverage alcohol sales over the last few years, and the pandemic has only kept pouring growth into this category.  This increase in off-premise alcohol sales has largely been driven by:

• On-premise closures
• Changing shopper behavior
• Channel shifting
• And perhaps an increase in alcohol consumption

Off-premise data insights have also been the only type of point of sale data analysis available until recently, so many retailers and their suppliers may be currently using these databases. It’s interesting to note that not all off-premise establishments are equal: grocers are benefiting more from the off-premise booze bump than retailers like convenience stores. 

Now let’s dive into the newest (and highly valuable) form of point of sale data analysis, that of on-premise retailers.

The Benefits of On-Premise Data Insights

Premiumization has been a huge influence on the entire alcohol industry, and on-premise establishments are typically the ones to reap the benefits of this.  So although on-premise sales channels struggled to maintain positive growth throughout the pandemic, now that areas are rebounding in the US there’s going to be high competition for the rising influx of sales. 

There has been a steady increase in yearly on-premise sales and there is a progressive projection for both large and small distributors and producers. And now that solutions like iControl are finally making on-premise point of sale data analysis accessible, you can finally gain the informed insights to keep your organization ahead of the game.

What Insights Can You Gain from Alcohol On-Premise POS Data?

Here are insights you can gain from on-promise POS data:

Brand Health

It's your most valuable asset, but do you know the financial value of your brand today and how to increase it? On-premise POS Data helps you evaluate brand health and make informed decisions. View business performance snapshots by category, sub-category, brand, and geography.

Competitor Brands

POS Data helps you understand your competitive product. See performances across each drink category and sub-category. Through this, you can know the parts to improve for sales growth.

Location-Based Insights

On-Premise POS data helps you to spot emerging regional trends by zip code. And learn how your consumers are pulling through on products with historical data dating to a few years back.

Promotion and Price

You can test new pricing strategies. Gain visibility of price compliance –by brand and location levels. And see how POS impacts on-premise sales.

Gain Access to On-premise POS insights

Get detailed, strategic, and actionable insights on the world's leading alcohol brands' on-premise sales. A cloud-based platform allows you to easily track sales and performance. Access daily on-premise alcohol sales data from 31,000 bar and restaurant locations, with reports on 3 million transactions every day, you're guaranteed better insights and more organized reporting, so you can gain visibility into your brands, your category, and your competitors. Improve your margins and make smarter decisions. A point-of-sale system can be much more than an effective way to take payments from your customers, but few business owners are leveraging the data that is available from an integrated POS.

iControl helps you dive into the nation's largest on-premise alcohol POS database and analytics solution. Next-day reports ensure accurate, up-to-date information to help you make informed decisions. An AI-powered platform means rich, clean, and structured data every time. Get a demo now on POS insights.