This is the best practice I would use when I was a sales rep for Anheuser-Bush to get my retail stores to bring in all my new innovation products. The key is not to ask for shelf space right off the bat. That shelf space is hotly contested territory so if you have a product that they’re not 100% certain on to begin with, asking them to bump out a another product to make space for you is going to be an uphill battle.
The trick is to offer to do a sampling of the product personally to their customers in store. So your ask of them is for them to bring in a minimum quantity of product (usually a flat of beers or equivalent), which you tell them that you will buy off of them as the product you will give out during the sampling. You will volunteer to come back and spend two hours giving out samples of product to their customers at a time that is most convenient for them. Typically, they’re gonna suggest something around the after work rush on a Thursday Friday Saturday.
There is no downside in what you have proposed to them there, so they are very unlikely to say no. That is a very easy sell. More often than not most Liquor Store managers are going to order more than the absolute minimum order quantity voluntarily and then after the sampling, they will keep that product in store usually putting it on an endcap display or potentially on a shelf if it performs well.
It goes without saying that the goal is keeping your product in store however I will also point out that doing a sampling this way, especially if you’re getting them to order one of each different type of product for you to sample in store, It will now show in the liquor distribution branch, ordering system that your products have distribution at that store. In British Columbia, you’ll maintain that distribution point for about three months before it resets. It can be invaluable to getting permanent listings in the government store if you can prove that your product got lots of distribution during its initial sampling period.