The canned alcoholic beverages category saw the biggest growth in the US during the last week of March.
Canned cocktails were up 93% for the week, while canned wines rose by 95%.
In the spirits category, tequila saw the biggest growth, up more than 75%, followed closely by gin.
Major wine and spirits distributor Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) said sales jumped by around 50% for the week ending March 21.
While they eased back the following week, spirits continued to increase at a 20%+ rate – 1.75 litre sized bottles were showing the largest increase, while 375ml bottles showed the smallest increase. Sales of economy and premium spirits were outselling sales of luxury, super-premium and ultra-premium by roughly two to one.
This echoes findings by Shopper Intelligence in Australia that shoppers are less willing to spend on premium options during COVID-19.
Wine sales are up 66%, with Winc, a direct to consumer wine club, reporting a 578% increase in new member sign ups during the week ending March 21. Sales during the same period increased by 49.6%.
Beer sales rose 42%, while Constellation Brands said sales of its flagship Corona beer soared 50%. However, the brand has subsequently been hit by the closure of its breweries in Mexico.
Mail order business is booming. Drizly, an alcohol E-commerce platform operating in over 100 markets across the United States and Canada, has seen a 300% rise in sales.
Off-premise hit by events shutdown
While the off-premise stores is seeing more traffic in-store, some businesses are battling to retain revenue as they have lost their most lucrative revenue stream: bulk orders for weddings, parties and receptions.
One of Southern California’s biggest wine and liquor retailers, Remedy Liquor and Wine Cellar, usually gets 40% of its sales from events.
Owner Michael Issakhanian told Forbes: “We’ve traded truckload sized orders of multiple pallets of wine and liquor for weddings and parties for individual orders of low and mid-priced Internet orders.”
