When it comes to purchasing goods, today’s consumers have more options than ever to research, find and buy products that satisfy their needs. One of the major ways that this purchasing of goods has changed over the past decade is through the growing success of online shopping – a change which is now infiltrating the alcohol market. In fact, recent research has found that, at a time when alcohol sales growth has been seen to be slowing, online is the one area where sales are in fact steadily increasing. In the retail market, studies in America have found that the abundance of information that consumers now have access to has meant that it’s becoming more challenging for big alcohol brands to stay ahead regarding sales – due to an increasingly saturated market, and an increasingly well informed customer. Now, potentially as a result, growth within online channels is far outpacing that of standard brick-and-mortar high street stores and retail outlets, leading to the question of how brands can use this information to their advantage. Investment firm Rabobank created a report looking back on the past year, which found that online alcohol sales in the USA reached $1.7 billion in 2017 – an amount not to be sniffed at.
One recent report by e-commerce firm Profitero and Nielsen found that 21% of UK consumers have bought alcohol online. This represents the highest proportion found within Europe, with UK consumers coming third after China and Japan in the world rankings. Experts correlate this online success in particular to wine, which was found to represent 42% of online alcohol purchases, followed by spirits at 35%. The UK plays host to a number of relatively well-established wine retailers, such as Majestic and The Wine Society, which have helped to bolster these online sales. With an increase in the frequency and availability of online grocery shopping within the country also, it is now common for UK consumers to purchase wine and beer within their regularly weekly shop. The report found that the growth in online sales within the drinks industry is driven by six factors, including the expansion of click and collect and home delivery, and the options for comparing products and prices. Millennials also play a part due to their reliance on online, with more and more tech savvy younger people coming of age and translating their online shopping habits over to the alcohol market. “No doubt about it, the demand for adult beverages online is increasing,” explains Profitero SVP of global strategy, Keith Anderson. “Already, there’s a large opportunity for brands and it’s growing at pace.”
Moving forwards, brands are going to have to make e-commerce a part of their sales strategies – and plan a dedicated approach designed to suit these customers. To do this successfully will be a case of not only making the product appealing, but making it easily discoverable for online shoppers. This will mean appearing at the top of search engine results pages, and having easy to find, and easy to digest, content and imagery to ensure that a potential buyer has all of the information that they need to buy. While this online growth looks to be consistent, there is still work to be done before it’s worth investing all of your time and marketing budget into this arena. Further studies have found that e-commerce platforms do not always allow shoppers to purchase things in the agile, or sporadic, way in which many choose to shop – a pattern of behaviour which is particularly prevalent regarding alcohol. Small basket trips or “top up shops” account for three quarters of total alcohol spend, yet minimum spend restrictions and shipping requirements can mean that online shopping proves restrictive in this area. Until these limitations are fixed, retail stores will no doubt still hold a firm position with regards to alcohol purchases across the world.
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