Consumer trends towards healthier choices show no signs of slowing with growth five times over in past twelve months for organic wines at Liquor Marketing Group and Australian founded no-alc spirit, Lyre’s.
LMG’s Beverages for a Better Lifestyle strategy has seen the group’s organic wine sales increase by 523 per cent in the past twelve months to January 2021.
While the non-alcoholic, Australian made spirit, Lyre’s enjoyed record ecommerce sales in January with revenue growth of 538 per cent, as ‘dry’ January and Feb-fast trends grow from year to year.
Across LMG’s 1,400+ stores, with retail banners including Bottlemart, SipnSave, Harry Brown, and Thirsty Camel in Western Australia, the organic wine segment increased its share of dollar sales to 2 per cent of total LMG bottled wine sales (up from 0.5% two years ago) and now represents 5 per cent of the category’s overall dollar growth.
LMG’s National Merchandise Manager for Wine, Matthew McEvoy, said: “LMG has been feeding the consumer demand for ‘better for you’ beverage options for some time now. It started with our strong focus on low carb beer a few years ago, followed by our expansion of no sugar RTDs. The feedback from our retail members was that we need to keep offering new products in this area as they are clearly resonating with shoppers.”
LMG’s organic wine range includes vegan friendly sparkling wines Tesoro of King Valley ($17.99) and Josef Chromy from Tasmania ($26.99) [Top 20 winner in Dan Murphy’s Decoded Wine Competition], Babich Wines Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, and the Atmata range from 100% family-owned winery and Australia’s largest wine exporter, Casella Wines.
Brad Ipson, Casella Family Brands National Business Manager – Independents, said: “The grapes for Atmata are sourced from premium Australian organic vineyards. These wines have been crafted to deliver a product for consumers that fits their ever-changing needs and to respond to consumer trends of ethical engagement and health and wellbeing. Organic wines continue to become more popular with consumers as they seek out products that allow them to make a conscious choice.”
Lyre’s
The trend towards more mindful drinking continues to grow, with Dry Jan and ‘Feb Fast’ merging into one long alcohol-free period for some consumers. Recent data from IWSR (“No- and Low-Alcohol Strategic Study 2021”) predicts that the no/low category within the beverage alcohol market will grow by 31 per cent over the next three years.
Dry January has significantly contributed to monthly revenue results, and captured a higher amount of new customers. Lyre’s ecommerce revenue grew by 538 per cent. The company reports a 1000 per cent increase over the year across all revenue channels.
Lyre’s Founder Mark Livings said, “We are so proud with what we’ve accomplished with Lyre’s in 18 months. To show a Dry January 1,000 per cent larger in revenue terms than last year tells us we’re really on the right track. We’ve just established our footprint in our fortieth country, recruited our fiftieth full time staff member and are hitting mid-cap firm annualised revenues….
“2021 is going to be particularly exciting for us as we scale our RTD range globally, deliver even more innovations to market and with some luck, start to see our products again placed behind the bars of the world’s best establishments as the world turns to reopening.”
With the trends towards moderation across key global markets, increased demand for sophisticated adult-beverage alternatives like the Lyre’s range has been observed also in all geographies. In 2019-2020, the ‘no-alcohol’ subcategory increased volume by 4.5 per cent (IWSR), with the low-alcohol category declining 5.5 per cent (IWSR).
“The zero-alcohol category is undeniably accelerating at pace and the benefits of reducing or eliminating alcohol are moving from passive curiosity to broad desirability, being adopted by increasing numbers of the population,” said Livings.
