If there is one certainty in the current beverage alcohol industry, it is that flexibility is key. For a variety of reasons, customers are drinking a wider array of beverages than ever before. It can be challenging for businesses in the industry to keep up, but it is not impossible.
The right analytics solution can help you track the shifts in customer preferences, and in some cases even stay ahead of what’s trending. Here’s a look at what kind of shifts the industry is dealing with, and how data can help your organization stay on top of it all.
State of the industry
In a recent webinar, NielsenIQ identified some important trends in the beverage alcohol industry leading into 2025. The company highlighted a number of consumer drivers impacting the industry, including health and wellness concerns. That’s one of the factors impacting the shifts in customer preferences. Consumers are influenced by what they perceive to be healthier options to drink, if they aren’t abstaining from drinking completely.
There are other reasons for these shifts, though. A ‘Future of Drink’ report cites creative flavors, such as global-influenced or candy flavors, as one emerging trend, as well as the impact sustainability can have on consumers. Many younger drinkers want to know how their beverages are produced and sustainability will continue to have an impact on their choices. In some cases, instead of drinking, people are turning to cannabis. When they do drink, they are looking for cannabis-infused beverages.
Some customers can also be swayed by celebrity endorsements, and even more so by the increasing presence of brands owned by celebrities. IWSR reports, “Having a favourite celebrity affiliated with a drink allows them to purchase with a degree of trust. This is useful in the complex drinks market – particularly for younger LDA [legal drinking age] consumers.”
Data’s role
Tracking all of these factors can be overwhelming, but most businesses have access to the information they need to track them. It should come as no surprise that there is a decline in traditional spirits and wine sales and growth in the RTD market. Sales executives have probably already used that data to adjust their product portfolios and marketing strategies.
That’s the type of work that needs to be done across the board. Sometimes drinking habits are venue-dependent. Travelers to a vacation spot have different preferences than a local restaurant, and there are different customer expectations for liquor stores than there are for convenience stores. Businesses need to use their data to deeply understand evolving consumer preferences and behaviors in the U.S. market.
How Dimensional Insight can help
With the constantly-changing beverage alcohol market, businesses need to be able to access data when and where they need it to make more impactful decisions. Dimensional Insight is trusted by beverage alcohol suppliers and distributors to help them get the right information to the right person at the right time and on the right device.
Dimensional Insight can provide:
- Consumer trend analysis to identify and anticipate shifts in customer preferences.
- Sales data to track performance of difference product categories.
- Market segmentation to tailor marketing efforts effectively.
The rapid growth of SKUs is not a trend that is going away any time soon. As long as there are a wide variety of products to choose from, businesses are going to continue to see shifts in customer preferences.
Dimensional Insight gives you the tools you need to keep track of how all of those brands are performing, allowing you to stay ahead of the competition. It is also flexible, so when the inevitable change occurs, you aren’t starting from scratch. The tool can adjust, the same way your business needs to. Because the most reliable trend when it comes to the beverage alcohol industry is that there’s another trend on the way.
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