The Background
For retailers looking to establish or maintain local dominance, innovation is key. This holds true for Pascale’s Liquor, led by its manager Nick Pascale, as they have been dedicated to cultivating and deepening their competitive advantage from the start. With a forward-thinking approach, Pascale’s became the first retailer in Central New York to sell using Drizly and had established an e-commerce website prior to the industry-wide paradigm shift caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Founded by Neal and Charles Pascale in 1978, Pascale’s Liquor has flourished, growing into a +$8M business, and solidifying its position as a Central New York staple. From the outset, Pascale’s success has been fueled by its unwavering commitment to providing customers with exceptional value and an extensive product range. One such example is the publication of their weekly ad in local newspapers, which showcases the week’s specials, highlights “Nick’s Corner” for recipes and more, and promotes case discounts. This approach garnered significant returns from the budget-conscious consumers of Central New York. However, facing escalating advertising costs and declining newspaper readership, Nick recognized the need for an alternative. That’s why, in March 2020, Pascale’s went live with City Hive.
Quick Hits
- Pascale’s converted their weekly print ad to a digital newsletter
and not only saved “thousands,” but created a more dedicated
customer base. - Driven by the success of their digital marketing, Pascale’s has brought on a new employee to manage their marketing through City Hive.
- With City Hive’s marketing tools, Pascale’s says that they have customers coming in every day “because of an email they received earlier in the week.”
- Since the Covid-19 pandemic, Pascale’s has increased their use of the City Hive platform “100%.”
- According to Pascale’s, they’ve been able to use the City Hive platform to create repeat customers solely through digital marketing and the ease of use of their website and app.
The Pain
Marketing has always been a focus for Pascale’s. Alongside its long-standing advertisement, the company has invested in physical marketing tactics like roadside billboards and various other strategies. However, as consumers increasingly spend their time shopping and browsing online, digital marketing has become an essential component of a modern marketing approach. And so, when traditional methods fell short of Pascale’s ambitious objectives, Nick and his team went live with City Hive to give themselves the tools they needed to continue their steady growth.
The Solution
With City Hive, Nick’s team gained access to all the necessary tools to bring Pascale’s into the modern era. They built an attractive e-commerce website featuring a tasting calendar, special orders, sales, and more. Then, they developed an app and harnessed the power of City Hive’s comprehensive marketing and engagement platform.
Using the engagement platform, Nick took their weekly ad online and began sending it as an email newsletter to customers, yielding immediate results. Utilizing City Hive’s email platform, Nick happily reported that “customers are visiting us at specific dates and times because of emails they received earlier in the week.” The digital ad’s success led Nick to make the decision to completely cease newspaper advertising, as he noted, “we used to spend thousands on newspaper ads, but now it’s integrated into our existing expenses.” Then, despite initial concerns about a sales decrease due to customers resisting the transition online, the opposite occurred. According to Nick, “Moving our efforts online hasn’t resulted in a drop-off. In fact, what we’re doing now is more effective than a year ago.”
Of course, digitizing the weekly ad was just one facet of Pascale’s broader marketing strategy. Leveraging other promotional emails and City Hive’s 1-Click Campaigns, Pascale’s significantly improved their ability to reach customers in a timely and impactful manner. A shift that has completely transformed their marketing approach. However, Pascale’s didn’t stop there. As the world emerged from the Covid-19 pandemic, Nick and his team committed themselves to increasing their utilization of the City Hive platform by 100%. This heightened effort resulted in Pascale’s exploring new marketing strategies through City Hive, such as push notification marketing on their app, leveraging City Hive’s events management tool to promote and track in-store events, and harnessing the platform’s data and analytics.
Nick confidently attested to the clear benefits of partnering with City Hive. He not only pledged Pascale’s commitment to expanding platform usage, but he also recommended that any new beverage retailer entering the market should follow suit. Nick firmly believes that after setting up a new location in-store, “digital advertising is the way to grow, both for customer acquisition and fostering repeat customers.”
