Wine had the biggest gains in the week ended April 11, Nielson said, with a growth rate of 36.5%, up 2.5% from the previous week. Spirits are next at 32.4%, though down 1% from the prior week.
Beer/FMB/cider is up 19.4% from a year earlier and 2.7% from the previous week.
U.S. consumers are still willing to treat themselves with alcohol during shelter-in-place. Nearly 75% agree that they expect to pay more for a delivered spirit than in a retail store
That said, only 9% of U.S. consumers ordered alcohol with takeout/delivery, indicating significant upside opportunity for on premise operators to creatively market “alcohol to go” where allowable.
“The alignment of the Easter holiday this year (which would include purchases for the week ending 4/11/20) would most likely be favorably impacting growth trends for this week, as Easter fell later in 2019 – in particular to the benefit of wine, despite the less than celebratory broader atmosphere.”
Beer/FMB/Cider
Beer/FMB/Cider dollar sales are up 19.4%, +2.7% from the previous week, Nielsen said.
Growth rates across the segments are similar to the previous week’s growth rates: hard seltzers (+321%), premium light (+8.6%), Mexican imports (+16.0%), craft (+17.4%), cider (+20.5%) and below premium (+6.2%).
Hard seltzer is the only segment where we’re seeing a positive shift in category share.
For the latest week, hard seltzers accounted for 7.8% of category dollars, up from 5.0% in pre-COVID time periods.
Since January 2020, hard seltzers gained an average of 0.2 share points each week.
Large packs outpace small packs, with 30 packs +33% and 24 packs up +38%. For the latest week, 12 packs experienced a bigger bump than previous weeks, +39% compared to the same week last year.
For the 6-week period ending 4/11/20, the total number of beer/FMB/cider items selling declined by -8.3%; that was a drop in 1,900+ items selling across the category (by comparison, little changed for wine and spirits)
Craft–particularly independent craft and the longtail of craft–are driving most of the declines. Among the top 20 craft brewers (ranked by total dollar sales in Nielsen off premise channels), there were only 28 fewer items sold compared to last year. The remaining segment of craft had a decline of 1,621 UPCs, down a total of nearly 12% compared to that same time period last year.
Cider and imported beer have also declined in the number of items selling, both down approximately -8%.
Premium light and below premium segments are selling essentially the same number of items as last year, up 1.6% and 0.6% respectively.
“The decline in number of items selling places even more pressure on small to medium-sized craft brewers that are already facing enormous challenges with the shuttering of taprooms, bars and restaurants across the country, said Danelle Kosmal, Vice President of Beverage Alcohol at Nielsen.
Where is there an increase in the number of items selling? Hard seltzers picked up the greatest number of items selling in off-premise channels, with an increase of 100+ items, up 54% compared to last year.”
Wine
Wine sales in Nielsen measured off-premise channels grew +36.5% in the most recent week vs. one year ago, and increased +5.2% vs. the prior week, likely benefiting from the shift in Easter timing.
The $20-$25 price tier continues to perform ahead of all other price tiers, in every weekly period since the beginning of March. According to Danny Brager, Senior Vice President of Beverage Alcohol at Nielsen:
“Perhaps some consumers who might have routinely spent much more than that on a bottle of wine while in a restaurant are very willing to spend $20 to $25 on a similar bottle of wine for consumption at home.”
Across over 6,000 wine suppliers tracked in Nielsen measured off-premise channels, sales of the top 100 suppliers in aggregate (accounting for around 90% of dollars tracked by Nielsen) grew +31%, while “All Others” in aggregate grew +30%.
Spirits
Spirit sales in Nielsen measured off-premise channels grew 32.4% in the most recent week vs. one year ago but decreased -1.0% vs the prior week (unlike wine, spirit sales do not generally jump around Easter holidays).
Growth of the 1.75L Spirits bottle has now exceeded the 750 ml size for the fifth straight week
Ready-to-drink spirits, tequila, gin and American whiskey continue to lead the way in growth, with brandy and Scotch whisky at the lower end of the growth spectrum
Premium and ultra-premium spirits continue to outgrow the lower price tiers within spirits
Across 1,750 spirit suppliers tracked in Nielsen measured channels, sales of the top 25 suppliers in aggregate (accounting for around 90% of dollars tracked by Nielsen) grew +33%, while “All Others” in aggregate grew +39%
Interestingly, when we looked at non-alcoholic beverage growth rates over the past 6 weeks, the one with the highest percent change vs. one year ago was tonic water (+66%), with the next two highest being lemon and lime juice, followed by club soda – all mixer type products.