All signs point to the cost of a night out getting more expensive.
July marks a continuation of bev-alc away from home outpacing overall inflation. The CPI for both food (+3.9% year-over-year [YoY]) and alcohol (+3.4% YoY) outpaced overall inflation for all items (+2.7% YoY) in July, according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
CPI increases in spirits (+3.9% YoY) and wine (+3.4% YoY) away from home drove the increase in overall alcohol away from home, with beer recording the smallest increase (+3.1% YoY) of the bev-alc mega categories.
At +1.4%, overall alcohol (both at home and away) increased at nearly half the rate of overall inflation, but could not be offset by CPI increases in all bev-alc categories away from home.
At home, the CPI for total bev-alc declined 0.2% YoY in July, driven by wine at home’s 1.1% decline. The CPI for spirits increased 0.8%, followed by beer (+0.3%).
Most bev-alc metrics remained relatively flat month-over-month (MoM). At +0.5% MoM, spirits at home recorded the largest monthly increase, followed by beer away from home (+0.3%).
Outside of alcohol, food saw a similar divergence between at home (+0.3%) and away from home (-0.1%) MoM changes. The CPI for food away from home (+3.9%) has risen at a higher rate than food at home (+2.2%) on a YoY basis.
At retail, the beer category’s average price per case increased $0.47, to $31.40, in the four-week period (L4W) ending August 2 off-premise locations tracked by market research firm NIQ. That marks a deceleration from the $0.57 average price increase measured in the 52-week period (L52W) ending August 2.
Average price increases have accelerated in the L4W compared to L52W in only three of NIQ’s 10 tracked segments:
- Craft increased $0.83, to $44.06 per case in the L4W (+$0.79, to $44.17 L52W);
- Flavored malt beverages increased $0.84, to $41.18 per case in the L4W (+$0.79, to $41.21 L52W);
- And domestic premium regulars increased +$0.54, to $26.09 in the L4W (+$0.53, to $25.92 L52W).
Price increases have cooled across all other segments between the L52W and L4W:
- Imports increased +$0.57, to $37.87 per case in the L4W (+$0.64, to $37.65 L52W);
- Domestic super premiums were flat at $30.99 per case in the L4W (+$0.10, to $31.12 L52W);
- Hard seltzers increased +$1.13, to $40.54 per case in the L4W (+$1.25, to $40.33 in the L52W);
- Domestic premium lights increased +$0.29, to $25.03 per case in the L4W (+$0.35, to $24.94 L52W);
- Cider increased +$0.54, to $49.83 per case in the L4W (+$0.74, to $49.32 L52W);
- Domestic below premiums increased +$0.28, to $19.74 in the L4W (+$0.39, to $19.62 L52W);
- And malt liquors increased +$0.67, to $23.76 in the L4W (+$0.93, to $23.54 L52W).
Non-alcoholic (NA) beer, which NIQ does not track separately from other segments, recorded the steepest drop in price at multi-outlet food, mass retail and convenience stores tracked by market research firm Circana. In the L4W ending July 13, the average price per case of NA beer declined $0.59, to $36.23, an acceleration from -$0.57 per case, to $35.99 year-to-date through July 13.