More than 800 craft distilleries switched production to hand sanitizer back in the Spring as the coronavirus rampaged through the U.S. and major hand sanitizer producers were unable to keep up with production.
But now those firms are pumping out sanitizer like no tomorrow, and now the distilleries are left swimming in unsold inventory, according to The New York Times yesterday (7/4). What are they to do?
Actually, we don’t think that’s a terribly hard decision. The options are:
- Sell it at cost or at above cost as the distillery. That gives the distiller a change to capture as much of the profit as possible.
- Bundle it with one or more bottles of the distillery’s product as a premium. This is the second best solution, in our opinion. It helps move the sanitizer — and, more importantly, it helps move the spirits.
- Sell it in bulk to local governments, churches, office providers, manufacturing plants, etc.
- Sell it as a premium product, locally made through local retailers. The downside of this is that you have to give up some of the profit.
- Give it away to charities with a big announcement. Helpful hint: If a distillery does this, it should put out a press release announcing this, with a release time for either Sunday evening or Monday morning. As someone who was a news editor, trust me: The easiest time to get in/on local media is Sunday evening or Monday morning. Have you ever wondered why those weekend newscasts are so weak? It’s because there’s nothing going on.