Sobering Insights for Online Non-alcoholic Beverage Retailers

In our most recent Amazon shopping behavior analysis, we discovered that consumer demand for non-alcoholic spirits is higher during Dry January compared to non-alcoholic beer or wine.

‍Why it matters: Dry January is one of the busiest online shopping periods for non-alcoholic beverage sites. Ecommerce shops looking to satisfy their consumers need to understand what products are in highest demand so they can effectively coordinate their marketing, inventory, shipping, and customer care teams.

‍What you should know: According to our analysis, demand growth for non-alcoholic beer has taken a backseat to spirits in recent years.

• For the past two years, peak demand for non-alcoholic beer, wine, and spirits occurred in January. Of the three, non-alcoholic spirits consistently saw the highest increase in demand compared to the annual average (37% above average in 2022, 29% above average in 2021).

• Year over year since 2019, demand for non-alcoholic spirits has seen the most dramatic increases each January. By contrast, demand for non-alcoholic beer saw the least significant year over year change.

  What’s more: When we evaluated branded search volume for non-alcoholic beverages from 2019 – 2022, the top three most searched for brands all fell within the non-alcoholic spirits category, accounting for 80% of all search volume. By contrast, searches for Budweiser Zero accounted for just 1% of all search volume during the same period.

‍However: General searches for non-alcoholic beer, wine, and spirits revealed a different story entirely. From 2019 – 2022, non-alcoholic beer accounted for 37% of all searches for non-alcoholic beverages. By contrast, non-alcoholic spirits only accounted for 19% of all searches during the same period.

‍The takeaway: Non-alcoholic spirits are slowly but surely gaining in popularity among U.S. consumers. Thanks to category investment in increased marketing and a renewed focus on health and wellbeing by major beverage companies, consumers are in search of non-alcoholic alternatives. With Dry January on the horizon, it’s time for retailers to prepare for seasonal demand by keeping the most searched for brands in stock.

• If you’d like to apply insights like these to your own ecommerce strategy, contact Pattern to request a demo today.