by Meredith Galante | Mar 24, 2020 | Wine & Spirits
While browsing the latest spring styles in a store, the hottest new accessory is a glass of champagne.
Stores such as Nordstrom, Crate and Barrel, Target, and Whole Foods are partnering up with wine and spirits brands to offer customers a glass of wine or even a cocktail in the hopes of increasing a customer’s total spending. For customers, the shopping experience can feel more luxurious or fun with a drink.
“From a marketing perspective, it’s genius,” Kate Carey, a professor of behavioral and social sciences at Brown University told The Washington Post. “Draw people in [with] the novel pairing of drinking alcohol while shopping, and then lower their inhibitions as you are presenting them with things to buy.” (more…)
by Meredith Galante | Mar 17, 2020 | Wine & Spirits
The Coronavirus (COVID-19) is affecting every industry, and tanking the global economy as a whole. Even in the wine and spirits world, it’s causing profit loss.
Distilleries have canceled tours, whiskey trading is experiencing losses of more than 200 million, bars in Asia are quiet, and auction houses are halting selling their top whiskeys.
According to the World Health Organization, there are 110,029 Coronavirus cases in 105 countries, with 3,817 deaths, as of March 9. Internationally, government officials are encouraging citizens to self-quarantine. (more…)
by Parker Jones | Feb 20, 2020 | Wine & Spirits
Of all the trends and shakeups in the alcohol industry over the past few years, none have been as dramatic or as exciting as the rise of hard seltzers. A few years ago they were almost unheard of, but then, seemingly overnight, they became cultural mainstays and a dominant force in the alcoholic beverage market. In 2019, sales for spiked seltzer shattered expectations by passing the billion-dollar threshold. And their popularity is not slowing down.
There does not appear to be a single, unified reason for this meteoric trend. Rather, everyone seems to have their own reason for being a seltzer fan, whether it’s the taste, the lightness, or the lack of calories. Understanding the causes behind the popularity of seltzer can help us understand whether seltzer is here to stay. (more…)
by Meredith Galante | Feb 11, 2020 | Wine & Spirits
Your vacation has started and you’re ready for a glass of bubbly to celebrate. The days of waiting for a bartender to serve you a drink are over. Now, customers can simply walk over to a vending machine.
This vending machine doesn’t serve candy or bags of chips, but personal-sized bottles of champagne. Others disperse bottled beer or canned cocktails.
Customers are willing to pay up for the benefit of shorter lines and something interesting to Instagram. Some are willing to spend as much as $25 for a 200 mL champagne bottle that would be only $11 in a liquor store.
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by Meredith Galante | Feb 5, 2020 | Wine & Spirits
With the holidays behind consumers and colder temperatures holding steady, alcohol sales typically decrease during the first part of the year.
The holiday months typically account for 30% of all sales of wine and spirits brands, which totals about $250 billion a year. Alcohol purchases peak in November, accounting for 37% of all purchases, according to Bev Spot. Then sales dip at the end of January into February. Come summer, sales increase again.
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by Meredith Galante | Jan 21, 2020 | All, Wine & Spirits
The days of the milkman may be long gone…but the alcohol delivery days are just getting started.
Customers don’t even need to talk to someone to order their favorite Malbec or gin. On-demand apps, such as the booming Drizly, enable consumers to order alcohol delivered to their front door as quickly as within an hour in some major cities. With 80% of all drinking taking place off-premises, according to LEK Insights, getting alcohol from an app is a convenient and easy way to drink at home.
Drizly, which has made $67 million to date, reported a 700% year-over-year sales increase, so if liquor stores and brands are not on the app, they’re missing a huge revenue opportunity. (more…)
by Meredith Galante | Dec 23, 2019 | Wine & Spirits
A staggering 402 new gin brands have entered the spirits market since May 2016, 367 of which are premium brands.
Gin sales produced about $2.89 million in the United States in 2019, according to Statisa. Gin consumption in 2018 grew faster than any other spirit or alcoholic beverage, according to Fortune. The market is expected to continue to grow another 1.5% by 2023.
“Focusing on the craft and quality aspect of gin will encourage consumers to trade-up to buy better quality gin as a special treat for themselves,” William Grant & Sons predicted in a statement. William Grant sells Hendrick’s Gin.
While the thirst for premium gin is high, brands are still working to ensure their brand stands out. They’re experimenting with everything from flavors to colors to ensure it does.
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by Meredith Galante | Dec 17, 2019 | Wine & Spirits
If you’re at a bar and look around at the patrons, you might be surprised to find most of them holding an orange drink in their hand. At bachelorette parties, smiling women stare at the camera, holding skinny silver cans.
The cocktail bar patrons are drinking Aperol Spritzes and the bachelorette attendees are sipping spiked seltzers. Both groups are gravitating toward carbonated alcoholic beverages and sales in this category are spiking. Aperol sales are up 25% and the spiked seltzer market is valued at $550 million.
It’s hard to ignore that for consumers, bubbles are no longer just for champagne.
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by Meredith Galante | Dec 10, 2019 | Wine & Spirits
As the New Year begins, many consumers will be drinking less. Terms such as “Dry January,” meaning a month of no alcohol, have gained popularity for people looking to swear off alcohol after too many holiday parties.
But this shift toward drinking less is not reserved just to January. As Millenials continue to make up a larger segment of alcohol consumers, this health-focused group is reaching for low- or no-alcohol wines in a trend called “mindful drinking.”
This is a rising trend that smart distributors won’t ignore. (more…)
by Meredith Galante | Dec 5, 2019 | Wine & Spirits
The new “roaring ’20s” are nearly upon us, and this time they will look very different than they did last century, especially for the wine and spirits industry in the United States.
When 1920 started, so did Prohibition. But as 2020 starts, the wine and spirits industry is booming more than ever. So what will the next decade hold? So far the themes appear to be classic wine, canned cocktails, and technology.
We’ve compiled your guide to the top-10 trends to look forward to in 2020 and beyond as we enter this new decade. (more…)
