Vinoshipper DTC Report: Cider Increases Market Share

Using 2020-2022 data, Vinoshipper details cider’s incremental gains.

On Tuesday, February 28, Windsor, Calif.-based Vinoshipper released its first ever DTC report covering craft cider. Vinoshipper, a leader in direct sales and compliance in the alcohol industry, compiled data from more than 400 cider producers across more than 40 states from 2020 to 2022.

• Overall, cider sales are up, though the increase varies depending on packaging, with bottles leading the way with 5.7% growth (compared to cans’ 1.9% uptick). The increases track the growth in the number of producers, which climbed slightly in 2022. Counting all containers together, the industry is up 1.9% over 2021.

That’s one of the headlines, but there’s so much more to the report.

• Club shipments are also up. More than 30% of cider producers now have membership clubs, with average orders topping $60. Customization of club orders is also growing, which may be contributing to the increase.
  

  

• Millennials are, by far, the largest piece of the cider consumer puzzle, tallying close to 50% of total orders (Gen X, baby boomers and Gen Z, in that order, follow in the distance). Interestingly, even though it comprises the smallest consumer group (an almost negligible single digit percentage), the pre-war generation (1928-1945) tops the board in 2022 order value of both bottles and cans.
• Looking at ABV, the 6-7% range easily outperforms all others, representing nearly 50% of all sales.
• New York and California sit at numbers 1 and 2, respectively, for both sales and DTC destination states, with the rest of the top 5 in each category a less homogeneous group.

There’s more information to be gleaned from Vinoshipper’s detailed data. Access the full report here.