First, a lot more households are buying hard seltzer than a year ago, Nielsen said. The number of hard seltzer buyers more than doubled for the eight-week Covid time period compared to the same time period last year.
While nearly half of hard seltzer buyers during Covid time periods are new to hard seltzers, Nielsen found that consumers who bought hard seltzer prior to Covid and during Covid) are contributing more than their fair share of dollars to the segment. The existing buyers account for 56% of total buyers, but represent 68% of hard seltzer dollars during COVID weeks.
Hard seltzer buyers during COVID-19 are spending less of their total alcohol dollars on beer and wine compared to the same time period last year.
Among hard seltzer buyers, beer (excluding FMB/cider) lost 5.6 share points and wine lost 4.0 share points compared to March and April 2019. Neilsen said it expects this trend to continue, as seltzers gain share in the beer category.