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BevAlc Insights is a forecasting and consumer resource developed by Drizly, the nation’s largest ecommerce alcohol marketplace, to help retailers optimize and grow their businesses.
And this week it released a comprehensive study focusing on how COVID-19 has impacted the adult beverage industry, how and where Americans will shop in a post coronavirus world, and the long-term prospects for changes in consumer behavior.
The report’s data and insights are derived from a survey conducted earlier this month among over 15,000 adults of legal drinking age.
Among Its key findings:
Increased Home Consumption Will Endure
Even as bars and restaurants reopen, 70% of respondents said they are planning to continue to drink less away from home, and 30% are poised to enjoy yet more adult beverages at home, at least through the rest of 2020.
Online Alcohol Sales Will Continue to Boom
Consumers were already shifting to the selection, convenience, and immediacy that alcohol ecommerce offers before 2020, but the onset of Covid-19 and mandated shelter-in-place orders across the U.S. caused online alcohol sales to explode.
71% of current Drizly users and 50% of non-Drizly users anticipate at least 50% of their alcohol shopping will take place online, vs. in store, in the next year. The foundation is in place, after new Drizly users spiked by 1700% at peak this spring.
For context on the magnitude of this development, as recently as last year, Drizly research found that 45% of consumers of legal drinking age weren’t even sure if buying alcohol online was legal. The past four months have both steepened the education and trial curves, with new users growing up to 1700% above baseline on Drizly since March of 2020.
Cocktail Culture Is Taking Serious Hold at Home
With the closure of on-premise establishments due to Covid-19, more consumers are creating high-quality cocktails at home.
More than half (52%) of those surveyed said they have made more cocktails at home during the past three months, and 54% predict that they’ll keep mixing things up more at home this summer and beyond.
Hard Seltzer Goes Mainstream Yet Remains Dynamic
In 2019, hard seltzers took over the beer/seltzer/cider category, first accounting for a majority of sales in the category on July 4 and maintaining that top spot ever since.
While a smaller share of imbibers reported affirmatively plan to drink hard seltzer this year than last year (38% vs. 52%), another 31% say they may do so.
This potential increase in total number of consumers testing out the category, along with existing converts buying in larger volumes and high-profile newbies like Bud Light Seltzer and Corona Seltzer entering the scene, all point to an expansion of the category.
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Drizly 2020 Consumer Report & Survey Methodology:
The 2020 Drizly Consumer Report was based on a survey conducted by Drizly during June 2020 among a representative sample of 15,000+ adults of legal drinking age who had used and not used Drizly before and includes data points directly from Drizly’s database.
Respondents were recruited from Drizly’s database and results were gathered via online survey. For the purposes of this survey, Gen Z is defined as age 21-26, Millennials as age 27-41 and Gen X/Above as age 42 and older.
