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During the lockdowns of 2020, booze consumption soared as checks poured in, and the world coped with the stresses of being stuck at home. Now, the market for booze is turning away from the trends of the Covid era. Bryce Elder reports for the Financial Times:
Here’s an interesting recession measure picked up by RBC Capital Markets: Americans who buy cheap liquor have been buying even cheaper liquor:
The pandemic sweet spot in the spirits market was $30-$74 a bottle, which is Cîroc vodka and Hennessy VSOP territory. Stimmy cheques and lockdown boredom combined to push midmarket brand share up by about 2.5 percentage points, which came mostly at the expense of the cheapest stuff. That trend reversed in early 2021 and has been strengthening since March 2022 as food, petrol etc consume more disposable income.
Data are skewed a bit by the likelihood that, through the pandemic, the poor upped their alcohol intake more than the rich.
Citing Numerator Insights data, RBC says that for lower income households (defined as on $40k or less), consumption peaked during the apocalyptic days of March 2020. Repeat purchases of beer and wine have since been trending negative.
Read more here.
