Consumers are buying less, but more often and most already know the product or occasion they are searching for when entering a store. Retailers and brands will need to concentrate on offering competitive prices, promotions, clearer ranging and better availability now more than ever to meet consumers' needs.
These are the latest findings into consumer trends and behaviour in Australian liquor retailing, delivered by Shopper Tracker Managing Director Simon Ford at this week's Network Breakfast, run by the drinks association.
Shopper Tracker is a large-scale, benchmarking program that collects data from all the leading liquor retail banners across every segment and 23,990 interviews with consumers each year.
The State of the Nation 2017 report shows that off-premise and online sales are being driven by occasions and gifting. This means that retailers and brands need to start labelling products clearly to highlight how they fit the needs of the shopper.
One trend you can expect to see more of is wines partnered with food. With research showing that just over half of all wines are purchased to go with a meal, more retailers and brands are expected to either start pairing products with recipes or recommended matches.
To jump on board this trend, retailers should also try bundling products together for a cocktail recipe or party as examples to help consumers find all the ingredients they need in one place and quickly. This is something that has been successful in
Better pricing is also helping to increase sales. 60 percent of consumers said this year that they felt pricing had improved across all of the major liquor banners, with the best prices found in vodka, cider and Champagne.
There is still room for improvement, however, and being able to deliver great prices is most important when it comes to cask wine, bourbon and Scotch, according to the report.
The report also showed that Australian retailers are selling twice as much alcohol through promotions as Europe and one and a half times the amount in North America.
52 per cent of consumers interviewed said they had bought alcohol that was on promotion and the actual number is expected to be higher, with some products often purchased without the shopper realising that it had been discounted.
However, only 30 per cent said they bought the product or bought more because of the promotion, giving room for brands and retailers to create more effective promotions to help increase spend and basket size.
The best preforming promotions are discounted single packs led by spirits and twin packs led by wine.
With range and availability, retailers are getting better at providing descriptors and segmenting products, according to the research. A strong example was in Dan Murphy’s, where craft beer had been broken up into styles (eg. pale ale vs. stout) by colour and name.
What’s next for liquor retailing?
One not so surprising finding is that volume is continuing to decline, which means retailers and brands must still look for ways to premiumse and encourage consumers to trade up.
Craft beer is one of the categories doing the best in this space, according to the report, with retailers getting behind the category with support and helping consumers to understand it.
New products and ideas will also boost sales in the pre-mix liqueurs and liqueurs, flavoured cider and Champagne segments.
Social media and technology is also growing at a rapid pace and influencing trends. This has started to relate in liquor retail with an uptake of click and collect, which allows shoppers to order online and pick up later in the store.
More retailers are also adding an online presence to their business and this will continue to happen.
Other drinks association news:
- After ten years with the drinks association CEO, Sandra Przibilla, announced her resignation this week. Get the story here.
- Entries to the Australian drinks Awards open on 10 April. There are a number of judging and award changes in 2017. All the information is available on the website.
- the drinks association has also launched a new portal and ‘diversity & inclusion @ drinks’ and ‘Women in drinks’ website.
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