BevAlc Purchasing Trends to Expect for the Holidays

With holiday celebrations upon us, the BevAlc category is sure to see a lift in the coming weeks, but what will consumers be looking to purchase this year?

Shopper intelligence company Catalina has identified several adult beverage category trends that will likely impact the contents of both bar and shopping carts across the U.S. this holiday season.

Examining data pulled from its Shopper Intelligence Platform —which provides a reservoir of purchase-based, anonymized buyer insights across U.S. households in real time — Catalina anticipates premixed cocktails and low-alcohol wine to be top of list for BevAlc consumers this holiday season.

Catalina says premixed cocktails and low-alcohol wine have risen in popularity at the expense of wine (both bottled and canned) and hard seltzer, according to a news release.

Catalina’s data and analysis found that dollars spent on low-alcohol and better-for-you wine products grew 35% during the third quarter of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021, while spending on pre-mixed cocktails increased by 29%. Canned wine fell 17%, while bottled wine was down 5%. Additionally, it appears the hard seltzer craze has slowed, down 29% compared to 2021.

Domestic and imported beer purchases grew at 3%, while craft beer and flavored malt beverages (FMB) posted 6% and 4% sales gains, respectively. Other categories had modest sales dips, including sherry/vermouth/champagne (-3%), cider (-4%), and spirits (-6%). Additionally, it appears the hard seltzer craze has slowed, down 29% compared to 2021.

Overall, Catalina’s data shows that alcoholic beverage prices are rising at a rate lower than inflation, typically increasing at a range of 1% (canned wine and spirits) to 8% (FMB).

“Knowing what shoppers are more likely to put into their baskets this holiday season allows us to identify and better segment 1,700-plus syndicated and custom audiences, which in turn helps our retail and CPG customers develop personalized messaging and incentives in real time that trigger incremental sales,” said Sean Murphy, chief data and analytics officer at Catalina, in the release.