Drinking leans domestic

A pair of recent stories from Media Post Marketing Daily indicates that consumers are trading down and drinking closer to home, in more ways than one.

One report, based on information from the Beverage Information Group, tells of a decline in sales of imported beers, wines and spirits.

Another article, although not rich in detail, suggests that growth in the beer, wine and spirits category last year was driven by off-premise (at home) consumption.

Implications: A variety of factors could explain why people are drinking closer to home. We might presume that folks are trying to avoid the mark-up that comes with ordering a bottle of wine at a restaurant, or a cocktail at their favorite nightclub. (Especially if you add-in the cost of the babysitter watching the kids back home.) A house party—or a casual evening with friends on the deck out back—could be seen as the economic alternative to a more pricey “night on the town.” But...

• Could the fall in “out of home consumption” of alcohol reflect a growing trend toward social responsibility (could this issue be impacted by the idea that people are less inclined to drink and then drive home)?
  
• Could a decline in imported beverage sales have anything to do with people simply wanting a product that is produced closer to home? (That sentiment often surfaces when the domestic job market becomes unstable.)
  
• And of course, the increase in off-premise sales could be driven by a spike in alcohol consumption, overall. A quick scan for stories finds anecdotal evidence of that possibility in both the U.S. and Canada. (Note: Beer sales are actually off, but not as much as sales for wine and spirits are up.)
  

This is another one of those issues whose causes and effects might be greater than those shown on the surface. As often happens in marketing and research, one answer leads only to more questions.

Mike Anderson