That’s for the week ended April 25, according to Nielsen.
Spirits again led growth in Nielsen measured off-premise channels, at +39.6% (and +1.4% vs. the prior week), followed by wine at +29.4% (even vs. prior week) and beer/FMB/cider at +20.4% (+6.3% vs. prior week). Beer specifically is +11.9% (+5.9% vs. prior week)
E-commerce sales for total alcohol–and each of beer, wine and spirits categories–continue to skyrocket. Within the Alcohol department, wine accounts for close to 70% of dollars, while spirits is growing the fastest on a percentage basis, but all are up significant triple digits in percentage terms.
Despite the deep economic impacts, Nielsen said it continues to see an increase in the average price paid at retail off-premise outlets across all three alcohol categories, largely due to price/mix trading up activity.
That increase vs. a year ago is +2.3% for wine, +3.7% for spirits and +4.7% for beer/FMB/cider (inclusive of the fast-expanding hard seltzers segment).
For the latest eight-week timeframe when COVID-19 heavily impacted consumer behavior (from the week ending 3/7/20 through the week ending 4/25/20), Nielsen said it has seen the following change in dollar sales in aggregate (from our in-store retail measurement):
- Total alcohol: +24.6%
- Beer/FMB/cider: +19.1%
- Beer, specifically: +11.8%
- Wine: +29.4%
- Spirits: +33.5%
Danny Brager, Nielsen’s Senior VP-Beverage Alcohol said:
“Off-premise alcohol gains continue to outpace those for total consumer packaged goods. And e-commerce is a big factor. Over the past 4 weeks through the week ending April 25, 2020, online sales are up between five and six-fold compared to the same periods one year prior. Largely, this relates to a huge increase in the number of buyers going online to buy, with a secondary increase related to more items purchased per order.”
Danelle Kosmal, VP-Beverage Alcohol at Nielsen:
“All beer segments had a strong week ending April 25 within the U.S. off-premise space, and all are well above pre-COVID growth rates.
“Hard seltzer, predictably, continued to perform well in off-premise outlets–at +324% compared to the same week in 2019, and driving more than double the sales earned during the week before the Super Bowl (week ending February 1, 2020).
“And even excluding hard seltzer, flavored malt beverages still experienced 23.5% year-over-year growth for this latest week.”
Beer/FMB/Cider
Beer/FMB/cider growth is at +20.4% (+6.3% vs. prior week). Beer specifically is +11.9% (+5.9% vs. prior week).
Premium lights bounced back, up 8.9%, with all three premium light brands in the top 10 growth brands for the week.
Hard seltzers continue to be the primary growth driver, accounting for $77 million in off-premise sales, up 324% compared to the same week last year. For comparison and perspective, the week before the Super Bowl (week ending 2/1/20) hard seltzers had half that amount in off-premise dollar sales ($38 million). For the week ending 4/25/20, hard seltzers now account for 8.4% of category dollars, up 0.4 points from the week prior.
Other winning segments for the week include FMBs (excluding seltzers) which were +23.5%, super-premium +18.9%, cider +18.8%, Mexican imports +17.3%, craft +17.2%, and hard tea +35%, which is close to its peak growth rate from the week of 3/21 (+40%).
Large pack trends continue, with 30 packs +27.7% and 24 packs +25.2%. 12 packs also had a very strong week, +40%, driven in great part by hard seltzers.
Several of the large beer states had a strong week, which is contributing to growth: California (+22%), New York (+31%), Ohio (+33%). The beer market in Indiana for Nielsen xAOC markets (food/drug/mass/club), was up 63%, which in part could be a result of some restrictions placed on the liquor channel in that state.
Wine
Wine sales in Nielsen-measured off-premise channels grew +29.4% in the most recent week vs year ago, and stayed even vs. the previous week.
Specifically, table wine sales in Nielsen measured off-premise channels grew 29.6% in the most recent week vs year ago (+0.5% vs. previous week)
Sparkling wine sales in Nielsen measured off-premise channels grew 9.7% in the most recent week vs year ago (-6.4% vs. previous week)
Over the COVID-19 period to date (from week ending 3/7/20 through week ending 4/25/20):
- Wines from Oregon and Italy are leading growth/
- The $20-$25 price segment has led price tier growth in 7 of the last 8 weekly periods.
While very small pack sizes may not stand out the most in COVID-impacted times, canned wines continue to grow at about the same rate as pre-COVID, and the 375 ml half bottle is growing at percentage rates 3x higher than pre-COVID, albeit on a relatively small base.
Spirits
Spirit sales in Nielsen-measured off-premise channels grew +39.6%–the second-highest weekly growth rate since the beginning of March–and were +1.4% vs. the prior week.
For the most recent week, segments that grew faster than the overall spirits category included gin, American and Irish whiskey (between +45% and +50%), cordials and tequila (between +65 and +70%), and at the very top, ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktails almost double that of a year ago.
Tequila growth has been consistently on the rise, at 55% for the latest 8-week period and +69% for the latest one-week period, leading into Cinco de Mayo.
Growth in both cordials and RTD cocktails suggests considerable interest in both the convenience of having a mixed adult beverage ready to pour and consume, along with ‘mixology’ practiced in the home.