If you’re wondering how to make a website for drinks, you’re in the right place. Perhaps you’re looking to build an eCommerce website in order to sell craft beers, flavoured sparkling water or create an online presence in order to properly promote your winery or distillery. Either way, a well-designed website is key for your business success. However, building a website in this niche market requires careful planning to ensure that it’s visually appealing, legally compliant if selling alcohol, in addition to being functional and fully optimised for your target audience.
In this article, we explore the things you need to consider when making a website for drinks, and 5 examples of excellent, compelling alcohol and non-alcoholic website designs.
Drink and alcohol brands need websites for several important reasons:
With countless drink brands competing for attention, having a website allows you to establish a unique brand identity. Your website serves as a central platform to showcase your non-alcoholic and alcoholic products, tell your story and explain what makes your brand special. A website for drinks builds trust when it:
Generally having a professional website also gives customers confidence in your drinks business, showing that you are serious and trustworthy.
Not all customers can visit your physical location or store. With a website, you can reach new customers globally and attract locals searching online for drinks, events, or alcohol/drinks deliveries in your area. By optimising your website for SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), you increase the chance of being found when customers search for phrases like:
Your online presence makes it easy for people to discover and explore your brand, even before they set foot in a store or event. In this market, a visible website will also help you to avoid missing out on collaborative opportunities with bars, restaurants and retailers who research brands online.
The enormous cultural shift towards online shopping means more customers now buy drinks and alcohol directly from websites for home delivery or pick-up. An eCommerce platform on your website lets you:
Online drinks and alcohol sales are rapidly becoming more normal and thus, the option to do so is more expected by consumers. A well-designed, high-functioning eCommerce website helps you capitalise on this trend. Additionally, having control over the shopping experience like this lets you provide better customer service than through external retailers.
If you host tastings, tours, pop-up events and/or festivals, your website can become a reliable hub for marketing these experiences. You can:
Events are powerful ways to create connections with your audience, and a website helps ensure people know about them.
Your website is a platform to educate customers about your products and create engaging content. With a blog, recipe section or even FAQs, you can provide valuable insights, such as:
This content not only helps customers make informed decisions, but also keeps them engaged with your brand. Plus, it improves your SEO by helping to bring more traffic to your website.
As well as detailed product pages, visual branding and storytelling, the best drinks websites include the following things:
We asked KIJO’s Liam Terry – Head of Design & Website Service Leader to scout out and analyse 5 alcohol brand websites. The following ones that impressed Liam with sleek, purposeful website design designs and thoughtful functionality.
Over in Quebec, Canada, Amour Liquide’s mission is simple; to offer bar-quality cocktails in convenient, transportable packaging.
Why we like it: Liam really liked Amour Liquide’s “Vibrant colour palette with a complementary art direction. It certainly stands out and feels distinctive. There’s also some really interesting and engaging scroll animations that use the brand shapes. This is a clever way of reinforcing the brand throughout the website, as well as keep the user hooked into the content and website story.”
KMBCH is an eCommerce promotional website for fermented, non-alcoholic, slightly fizzy, tea drinks.
Why we like it: Liam was taken with KMBCH’s “really good use of 3D product models that spin on scroll – this is really neat and engaging. I also liked the impactful typography and vibrant colours including the art direction which feel rooted in user persona research and inherently brand led.”
Related Read: How to Create a User Persona
South African drinks brand Twisted Sparkles make refreshingly twisted, fruit flavoured, alcohol powered (5%), fizzy water.
Why we like it: Liam thinks that the Twisted Sparkles’ “website is really impactful. It’s fuelled with stand-out bold typography, cut-out product and ingredient imagery which makes them pop, and seamless entrance animations. It also uses white space purposefully and confidently.”
Non-alcoholic spirits business Caleño Drinks is based in Bristol, UK and is a certified B-Corp.
Why we like it: Liam was impressed with the Caleño Drinks’ “bold pop-art style visuals that utilise organic shapes, playful typography and vibrant colours. The site feels really playful whilst still feeling sleek and reliable – the balance is cleverly struck.”
Moosehead is a lager brand and brewery based in Canada. It’s been owned by the same family since its conception in 1867; The Oland family.
Why we like it: Liam rated Moosehead’s “unique navigation dropdown menus. The brand cards in the brand menu are really cool and engaging. I like the subtle micro interactions you experience across the website and the urban styling feels traditional and appealing all at once. This is a brand that knows itself and that feels evident in this website design.”
By now, you should know a bit more on how to make a drinks website! Evidently, creating a website for a drinks brand is all about blending captivating product visuals, engaging lifestyle content, and seamless, visually-pleasing functionality to capture the essence of your product.
As seen in these 5 examples, the best website designs not only showcase products but also tell a story that resonates with their audience. Whether that be through bold, modern aesthetics or a more traditional, heritage-focused approach, these brands clearly know themselves and they know their users. By focusing on animated features, clear product information and a strong brand identity, you can build a drinks website that not only attracts visitors but also converts them into loyal drinkers of your product.
Ready to design your own? Allow us to quench your thirst. The KIJO team will create a drinks website design for you that delivers a meaningful, standout experience for all your users. Contact our team today or book a discovery call with our Head of Partnerships & Co-Founder, Kirk Thompson.
Need expert guidance on your alcohol or drink website design? Book a complimentary, 30-minute consultation with our Head of Partnerships & Co-Founder, Kirk Thompson. During your call, we’ll review your website’s current performance, discuss your goals, analyse competitor insights, and explore the potential of a WordPress-powered website. Let’s bring your vision to life—book your free consultation via the link below: