New data has revealed a major shift among liquor shoppers, with RTDs and spirits becoming credible options for drinks with meals.

A Shopper Intelligence webinar entitled “The Liquor after the crisis – Post-COVID shopper behaviours to shape your strategy” has explored significant changes in shopper mindset.

Senior Insights Director David Shukri said: “As we plot the path through to Christmas and into 2021, understanding how the liquor shopper has changed is going to be so critical.”

The results were drawn from more than 9000 liquor shoppers during August and September and were compared year-on-year between 2019 and 2020.

Shopper Intelligence Insights Manager Ming Lianto noted that the trend towards buying alcohol in the off-premise to drink with meals was up 7%.

“RTDs have seen the greatest growth in buying to drink with a meal, up 12%, and this is driven by bourbon RTDs,” she said. “Premix is now the second department after wine that shoppers are buying to drink with meals.”

Lianto added that it was a “great opportunity” to expand the perception of the category from being associated with the party scene.

Spirits were also up 8%, with rum seeing the biggest growth.

Shukri (above) urged webinar attendees to consider how they can further leverage this trend and ensure they are “hooking the right categories up with the right occasions”.

Impulse buying boom

Shukri said Shopper Intelligence had “seen some big shifts in behaviour that are really going to call for some big shifts in approach”.

Impulse buying is up 5%, which translates to about one in four purchases are being decided upon only once the shopper is in store.

“Anecdotally we are seeing less organised consumption occasions,” Shukri said. “So it’s going to be more appropriate now to review your marketing plans and spend and assess the ratio between pre-store and in-store activity and the emphasis that you give to those compontents.

“You’re looking more at the role of shelf, the role of your displays, the role of your secondary space to capture this more impulsive shopper in liquor.”

Lianto added: “At the high end for impulse buying is ALDI, up 13%. ALDI’s strategy of tight range, simple price messaging and the location of liquor in store perfectly cater to a less planned approach by shoppers. And it’s worth noting that ALDI has also done particularly well on health and delivering new ideas. It’s followed by Dan Murphy’s at 8%, BWS at 6% and First Choice at 4%.

She said Bottlemart shoppers were more focused on planning, with impulse buying down 12%, while it was down 3% at Cellarbrations and 3% at Vintage Cellars.

“On this basis its quite evident that your conversations with ALDI need to be quite different to those with Bottlemart,” she advised.

“While under 35s were previously the most impulsive shoppers, it’s the 35s to 54s that have gone up the most – 7% year on year, compared to 4% for under 35s and 3% for over 55s.

“Around one in three under 35s decide on their purchases in store. But the over 35s are the fastest growing and now make up 28% of impulse buyers.”

There’s been an even greater increase in shoppers buying for same-day consumption, up 11%.

The groups that are most likely to exhibit this sort of behaviour are male liquor shoppers and shoppers between 35 and 54 years old.

“Interestingly as well, those living in NSW and Victoria are proving the most likely to exhibit this same-day consumption behaviour,” Shukri concluded.

Watch the full webinar below:

Impulse buying boom in the off-premise