Necessity, it is said, is the mother of invention. And the wine industry is proving inventive right now as it struggles to remain relevant in an environment where it cannot sell its products to customers or engage with them in traditional ways.
For many independent restaurant operators that sell alcohol, the time spent during the lockdown has not been a happy hour, especially for those who continue to make payments to maintain their liquor licenses despite a lack of revenues.
With the majority of bars and pubs worldwide still closed to consumers, beer manufactures have struggled to shift their sales back into retail to offset their losses and even big brands such as Heineken are no exception – having reported a 14 per cent decline in beer sales in March.
Brokering has been a part of the wine business for generations—generally, most brokers bring wines to market through existing distributors. One online business, LibDib has been challenging that model for a few years, but in only five or six U.S. states.
There aren’t many industries as focused on years as wine. A vintage is slapped on a label proudly, a declaration of a certain time and place for all imbibers to know.
As consumers become increasingly conscious of what they put in their bodies and the environmental impact their tread has, brands are starting to react, pivoting marketing and production efforts to embrace sustainable practices.
Wine sales in Nielsen-measured off-premise channels grew by 36.5 percent for the week ending April 11, 2020 compared to the same period in the prior year, and wine sales increased by 5.2 percent compared to the prior week, an increase which was attributed to a shift in Easter timing.
CHICAGO — Within alcohol beverages, flavored malt beverages saw the most growth in the c-store channel in 2019, with case sales up 32%. Other strong performers: nonalcohol and domestic super premium beers, both up by double-digit percentages, according to IRI.
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, access to alcohol will likely become limited due to social-distancing measures mandated by government officials.
Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court granted Total Wine & More a big win when it struck down Tennessee’s residency requirement for beverage alcohol licensing. But the Court has declined to take up Total Wine’s latest challenge to state alcohol laws, in which the retailer has taken aim at Connecticut’s minimum pricing rules.