Ready-to-drink (RTD) canned cocktails’ share of Drizly sales is growing at 15 times the rate of hard seltzer, according to e-commerce alcohol marketplace Drizly’s 2021 Consumer Report. However, consumers may not know the difference between the two products, the Boston-headquartered on-demand platform reported.
Last month, Drizly surveyed 1,000 Americans of legal drinking age, independent of its customer base. When asked to define “hard seltzer,” nearly a third of respondents (32%) correctly defined it as a “carbonated water with alcohol made from malt or sugar.” The same percentage said hard seltzer is a “carbonated drink made with liquor like vodka or tequila,” and 22% said it was a ready-to-drink cocktail. Additionally, 22% said hard seltzer included carbonated water with an ingredient like agave or unflavored beer, and 2% said the segment included all of the above.
When asked to select their top three most reached-for alcoholic beverages, nearly the same number of respondents chose RTDs (30%) as chose hard seltzer (29%). Beer topped the list (61%), followed by wine (56%), and “light liquor” (44%). Hard alternatives — including hard tea, hard lemonade, and hard kombucha — made 23% of consumer’s top three lists, followed by agave-based spirits (20%).
Beyond category, 39% of Drizly respondents consider perceived healthiness as the driving factor when considering a product. Of those looking for a better-for-you product, one-fifth look for transparency of ingredients, while one-fifth prioritize calorie count. More than a third of consumers (34%) said they look for local and/or family-owned businesses, 31% look for sustainable business practices, and 27% are considerate of whether a business supports causes the consumer personally cares about. Additionally, 18% of respondents were drawn to minority-owned businesses, and 14% looked at celebrity-owned businesses.
Generation Z consumers were the most conscious about various business factors when choosing products. One-third of 21- to 24-year-old consumers cited minority ownership as an important factor, followed by 18% of millennials, and 14% of Gen X consumers. Environmentally sustainable business practices were important to 40% of Gen Z respondents, followed by one-third of millennials and nearly one-third (32%) of Gen X.
When it comes to where consumers are drinking, more than half of those surveyed (54%) said they were mostly drinking at home this summer and fall, while 16% said they were drinking mostly at bars and restaurants.
In a related note, more than 53% said they are purchasing alcohol online more than they were pre-pandemic. One-third of consumers said they were spending about the same online, and 14% are spending less. Online marketplaces and delivery services such as Drizly, Instacart and DoorDash are the No. 1 place consumers (72%) are ordering from. Ordering directly from local liquor stores was the second most common (39%) response, followed by online retailers (30%).
It’s not necessarily bad news for on-premise establishments. More than one-fourth of respondents (26%) said they plan to go to bars and restaurants to drink more than they did pre-pandemic while two-in-five respondents said they plan to go out the same amount as before. However, one-fourth of consumers said they plan to go out less. Only 6% said they do not plan to return on-premise for drinks in the coming months.