New Data Shows 78% of non-Alcohol Drinkers in the US buy Booze

A glass of whisky is pictured in the Warehghem distillery on Nov. 13, 2018, in Lannion, western France. Recent data published from NielsenIQ showed that a majority of non-alcohol drinkers still buy spirits. (Fred Tanneau/AFP via Getty Images)

New data from NielsenIQ were revealed at the Distilled Spirits Council’s 2021 conference last week, according to The Drinks Business, and they showed some interesting things about the spirits industry. Let’s get right into it:

Non-alcohol drinkers still buy booze: 78% of buyers who don’t consume alcohol in the U.S. still purchase alcoholic beer, wine or spirits.

Low- and non-alcohol drinks are here to stay: U.S. retailers have sold $3.1 billion worth of low-alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks in the last 52 weeks, a sales increase of 10.4%. In the same period, non-alcoholic drinks sales were up 33.2%, reaching $331 million.

“There are many health and wellness trends emerging across centre store that are causing alcohol consumers to take a second look at their beverages,” said Kim Cox, NielsenIQ SVP of account development. “While non-alcoholic beer has been available to consumers for many years, there are now more no/low alcoholic wines, spirits and beer options available than ever before. These new innovations better meet health and wellness desires of certain consumers such as lower ABV, lower sugar, lower calorie or sustainable sourcing practices.

Online sales up, but “low-and-no” drink popularity is real: Online sales of low- and no-alcohol drinks leapt 315% in the past 12 months, while alcoholic beer, wine and spirits e-commerce sales increased by 26% — showing that while e-commerce sales are certainly on the rise, they don’t account for the meteoric rise of the “low-and-no” category of drinks.

The market for no/low alcoholic beverages is still relatively small at less than 5% household penetration, but is an interesting area to watch, as it now represents US$3.1 billion in sales and a 3.5% total alcohol market share,” Cox said.

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