With wholesale prices for long-stemmed red roses, the traditional Valentine’s Day flower, up 30% from 2020, retailers have raised prices to $110, or more, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Maybe that explains why Drizly sales were up 12% on Valentine’s Day compared to the previous four Mondays. Drizly’s gift orders represented 17% of its total Valentine’s Day orders, nearly double the 9% share for the holiday in 2021 and triple the 6% in 2020. Here’s how the individual segments performed in terms of share gains on Valentine’s Day:
- Wine: 46% share – Wine moved into the top category position over liquor which is currently the best selling category in 2022 to date and gained shared over the 40% average share to date in 2022 for the wine category. Compared to Valentine’s Day prior, wine was down 1 percentage point from 47% share in 2021 but up from 44% in 2020.
- Liquor: 42% – Though liquor share was down 2 percentage points from the 44% share in 2022 to date due to the spike in wine on Valentine’s Day, the category saw gains from V day on last year – up from 38% share in 2021.
- Beer: 10% – On Valentine’s Day 2022, beer share is down from the holiday in previous years from 14% in 2021 and 15% in 2020. Share was also down from the year-to-date average of 14% share of total sales on Drizly.
- Extras: 2%
Wine
Wine led gift sales on Valentine’s Day 2022 with 20% share of wine sales attributed to gift orders, Drizly said. Red wine saw share gains year over year, accounting for 40% share of wine sales, up from 39% in 2021. Within the red wine category, the top-selling varietal on Drizly, Cabernet Sauvignon, saw gains year over year accounting for 44% share of red wine on Vday 2022 compared to 42% in 2021. White wine also saw gains year over year on Valentine’s Day, accounting for 24% share of wine sales in 2022 vs 22% in 2021.
The Champagne and Sparkling wine category saw declines year over year on the holiday, accounting for 28% share compared to 31% in 2021. Within the Champagne and Sparkling wine, the champagne subcategory saw significant gains year over year accounting for 65% share of the category in 2022 vs 52% on Valentine’s Day 2021 while prosecco was down year over year from 24% share in 2021 vs 14% share in 2022.
At the product level, Veuve Clicquot Brut Yellow Label Champagne was the#1 wine SKU this year, up from #3 in 2021 and replacing La Marca Prosecco which drop from #1 to #2. Products that saw YoY gains/ new entrants to the top 10 wine SKUs on Valentine’s Day 2022 were:
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- 19 Crimes Cali Red Snoop Dogg (up from #7 to #5)
- Moët & Chandon Impérial Brut Champagne (up from #11 to #6)
- Decoy Cabernet Sauvignon (up from #13 to #9)
- Whispering Angel Rosé (up from #18 to #10)
- The fastest-growing wine SKUs year over year on Valentine’s Day from 2021 to 2022 were:
- Chloe Pinot Grigio
- La Crema Sonoma County Sauvignon Blanc
- Pascal Jolivet Sancerre
- The Prisoner Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Red Wine
- Josh Cellars Reserve Bourbon Barrel Aged Cabernet Sauvignon
- Murphy-Goode California Cabernet Sauvignon
- Ken Wright Cellars Pinot Noir Willamette Valley
- Myx Fusions Peach Moscato
- Luna di Luna Pinot Grigio
- BABE 100 Rosé With Bubbles
Distilled Spirits
Within the liquor category, the following shifts emerged on Valentine’s Day:
- 18% share of liquor sales on Valentine’s Day 2022 were gift orders, over-indexing slightly against the overall 17% share across Drizly
- Whiskey was the top-selling liquor subcategory on Valentine’s Day as it typically is on Drizly but saw strong share gains over Vday 2021. This year it accounted for 42% of liquor share, up from 36% in 2021. Within the whiskey category, Bourbon, Scotch and Japanese whiskey all saw year over year gains.
- Tequila also saw year over year gains this Valentine’s Day, accounting for 16% share of liquor sales this year compared to 15% last year. Meanwhile, vodka saw a decline from 22% share in 2021 to 21% in 2022.
- Liqueur, Cordials, & Schnapps saw a decline in share of liquor category this year, accounting for just 5% of sales compared to 7% in 2021 suggesting consumers may have been making fewer cocktails at home to celebrate the occasion than last year, potentially a result of less on-premise restrictions as a result of the pandemic.
- At the product level, Tito’s Handmade Vodka remained the #1 best-seller year over year. Products that saw YoY gains/ new entrants to the top 10 wine SKUs on Valentines Day 2022 were:
- Fireball Cinnamon Whisky (up from #6 to #3)
- SVEDKA Vodka (up from #10 to #5)
- Grey Goose Vodka (up from #11 to #6)
- Maker’s Mark Bourbon Whisky (up from #13 to #7)
- The fastest-growing liquor SKUs year over year on Valentine’s Day from 2021 to 2022 were:
- Howler Head Banana Infused Kentucky Straight Bourbon
- Fireball Cinnamon Whisky Anti-Valentine’s Day Pack
- CÎROC VS Brandy
- High West Old Fashioned Barrel Finished Ready Made Cocktail Whiskey
- Cutwater Mango Margarita
- BuzzBallz Strawberry Rita
- Lunazul Blanco Tequila
- Aberfeldy 12 Year Scotch Whisky
- Western Son Original Vodka
- Tuaca
Beer
Within the beer category, the following shifts emerged on Valentine’s Day:
- Beer under indexed on gift orders, with just 7% share of beer sales on Vday were gift orders
- Light lager saw year-over-year share gains, accounting for 14% share of the beer category compared to 11% on Valentine’s Day 2021. Meanwhile, IPA and cider each saw a 1 percentage point decline year over year. Hard seltzer remained the top-selling beer category year over year at 19% share.