Home Industry News Releases Homebody Mentality Presents Off Premise Opportunities for Wine, Beer, Spirits

Homebody Mentality Presents Off Premise Opportunities for Wine, Beer, Spirits

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Unless otherwise noted, all trends below are for dollar sales within Nielsen U.S. off-premise channels for the one-week period ending 8/29/20 compared to the same week in 2019. We continue to remind our readers that we are only measuring some specific off premise channels, and that the impact of the health crisis on sales is uneven across companies in the alcohol industry.

nielsenThe year-over-year growth rate for total off-premise alcohol dollar sales within Nielsen measured channels was +9.4% (now +22.6% for the entire 26-week pandemic period).

  • Wine led growth at 13% in dollar sales.
  • Spirits grew 12.4% in dollar sales.
  • Beer/FMB/cider growth was at +7.1%. Core beer, excluding FMB/seltzer, grew 2.4%. 

In the words of Danelle Kosmal, Vice President of Beverage Alcohol at Nielsen:

“For the week ending 8/29/20, there was a slowdown in growth across off-premise alcohol and total consumer goods; however, the timing of Labor Day last year is most likely the biggest contributing factor to this. Year ago comparisons are the week ending 8/31/19, which was Labor Day weekend in 2019.

With restrictions and limited traffic in the on-premise, the shift in alcohol volume continues to move towards the off-premise, which was up 9.4%, outpacing growth of total FMCG.

For nearly every week since the beginning of March, spirits was the fastest growing category in off-premise alcohol. However, wine broke through this week as the fastest growing category, up 13.0% in off-premise for the week ending 8/29/20 compared to the same week last year. Spirits was very close behind that, up 12.4%.”

Nielsen U.S. off-premise (retail) alcohol update, 8/22/20BEER/FMB/CIDER: OFF PREMISE

  • This was the first week since the end of April that beer/FMB/cider category sales dipped below $1 billion in Nielsen off premise sales.
  • For the latest week ending 8/29/20, below premium beer was -4.8%, premium light -0.5%, and FMBs (excludes hard seltzer) -5.0%.
  • Hard seltzer growth slowed to double-digit growth, up 87% compared to the same week last year, which again, included Labor Day weekend sales for 2019.
    • Hard seltzer sales have slowed for the latest week when comparing to prior weeks as well.
    • Beginning mid-May 2020, hard seltzers experienced 14 consecutive weeks of sales surpassing $100 million in Nielsen off-premise channels. This is the first week since May that sales dipped below that $100 million, with just over $97 million in off-premise sales.
  • Pack size also played a role in this week’s performance. This was the first time since March that 30 packs lost share, down 0.2 share points compared to the same week last year.

WINE: OFF PREMISE

  • For the week ending 8/29/20, wine led total alcohol growth this week, up 13.0% compared to the same week last year in Nielsen off premise channels.
  • Unlike beer and spirits, which lagged prior week sales, wine sales grew 0.9% for the latest week compared to the prior week.
  • Sparkling wine continues to lead growth in off premise, up 27.3% compared to the same week last year. Table wine grew 9.6% in off premise dollar sales for the latest week.
  • Wine-based cocktails have once again achieved triple-digit growth, up 103%.  Premium price tiers continue to lead growth, with all price tiers $11 and above in double-digit growth for the latest week.

SPIRITS: OFF PREMISE

  • For the week ending 8/29/20, total spirits growth decelerated to +12.4% for the same week last year, and declined 1.9% compared to the week prior in Nielsen off premise channels.
  • Across price tiers, growth slowed across all segments, but more so in the mid price tier (+2.7%) and premium price tier (+13.9%).
    • Ultra premium, while slowing, was still up 29.4%.
    • On the other hand, value price tier declined by 3.0% in off premise dollar sales compared to the same week last year.

CONSUMER SENTIMENT

This is a continuation of consumer insights we shared last week, highlighting results from a Nielsen survey of 18K+ consumers, fielded July 1-8, 2020.

  • The homebody mentality continues and was evident in several of the questions from the survey. When asked what types of activities consumers plan to do more of in the coming month, cooking at home topped the list, with 58% saying they plan to cook more at home.
    • This presents off premise opportunities across beer, wine, and spirits – either through beer and wine food pairings, or cocktail recipes on prominent cooking sites. 
  • Health-minded activities were also high on the list, with many consumers planning to participate more in healthy eating and taking vitamins and supplements in the coming months.
    • When it comes to alcohol, health-minded trends are translated into growth in non-alcoholic segments. For example, off premise dollar growth rates for non-alcoholic beer during COVID time periods are +37.7%, surpassing growth rates of pre-COVID time periods, which were up 26.8% for 52 weeks ending 2/29/20.
  • Similarly, non-alcoholic wine is up 23.9% in COVID time periods compared to 5.4% in pre-COVID time periods.

Overview: Nielsen COVID-19 insights and analysis

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