Spend per bottle on wine for home consumption is down in Australia during COVID-19 according to new Wine Intelligence research.
The research is based on a survey of 1000 wine drinkers and was conducted during the last week of March and the first week of April. Data was gathered via Wine Intelligence’s Vinitrac online survey.
Respondents were screened to ensure that they drink wine at least once a month; drink red, white or rosé wine; and buy wine in the off-premise or in the on-premise.
“Consumers are expressing a mix of optimism, prudence and more caution,” Wine Intelligence noted. “The most salient priority appears to be saving money.
“Spend per bottle on wine for home consumption is down with wine drinkers in Australia reducing their typical spend for all at-home occasions, and particularly for the most frequent occasion of a relaxing drink or informal meal at home.”
The research also suggests that Australian wine consumers are torn between “maintaining normal behaviour patterns and acknowledging the major changes to lifestyles and economic prospects”.
“On one level, it seems to be a case of ‘keep calm and carry on’: wine drinking is holding up, with old social occasions in pubs, restaurants and other people’s houses replaced by more intimate family events or online socialising,” said Wine Intelligence.
It also reveals that those in Gen X (aged 40-54) increased their frequency of wine drinking during the lockdown period with those in Gen Z, the youngest cohort, reducing their frequency of wine drinking the most.
Liquor customers switch to mainstream brands
The research dovetails with ALM’s observation that customers are shifting away from premiumisation to more mainstream alcohol brands in its off-premise channels during COVID-19.
CEO Chris Baddock noted last week that while there are early signs of change in consumer buying habits, it’s too early to assume they will continue.
“However, we have seen a softening of premiumisation and a move to mainstream beer and more affordable products,” he said.
“Consumers are exhibiting a narrower repertoire and less willingness to shop new brands/SKU’s and categories.”
Meanwhile, IBA’s business manager Todd Winstanley told the Adelaide Advertiser:
“Everyone’s got more time, they’ve become more savvy and they’re buying the best products at the best price online,” he said.
“All your mainstream beers are doing really well but craft beer has really suffered, mostly because of the high cost.
“High end table wine has probably fallen away as well – everyone’s gone back to the $10 to $15 dollar bottle, reasonable value for self-consumption.
Cask wine sales boom in US
Danny Brager, senior vice president of Nielsen‘s Beverage Alcohol Practice in the United States, reports a shift to value offerings in the US.
“We see consumers favoring larger-pack sizes than before—for example, the three-litre boxed wine growing at 82% year-over-year for the week ending April 4, 2020—to the benefit of those brands offering those larger pack size formats,” he told Forbes.
The trend has been enhanced by consumers wanting to make less trips to the store during lock down.
Inexpensive wine has been especially popular in liquor stores in New York. In an interview with New York magazine, Mark Schwartz of Little Mo Wine in Brooklyn said: “We sell a very good grade of box wine, it’s not junky, but people are like, ‘That’s where I’m going!’ So they buy four boxes, which is equivalent to 16 bottles of wine.”
