New study says about one-quarter of us are opting for non-alcoholic options
A new study says about a quarter of us are replacing alcohol with non-alcoholic beverages, and that even more of us are trying to drink less, be it through something like Dry January or cutting down when we do drink.
The research comes from a company called Veylinx, which identifies itself as a “consumer insights platform.” In this, the methodology doesn’t seem to be something that most of the experts I know would endorse; it’s based on testing how much consumers are willing to pay for a product through a “real” bidding process. This is more than a little fuzzy compared to traditional methods. And, given that Veylinx conducts research for major consumer goods companies, this strikes me as the kind of thing devised to sell the products it studies.
Still, traditional studies have come up with similar results, and, as one expert told me, traditional polling or not, “the results are something the industry needs to see. Whether it matters to them is another matter.”
The results, published last week in Nation’s Restaurant News, found we want to improve our health and “mental well-being.” Hence, more than three-quarters of Americans say they’ve temporarily given up alcohol for at least a month. Almost half of us who drink are trying to reduce their alcohol consumption – and about half of those are replacing alcohol with non-alcoholic beverages.
Not surprisingly, younger consumers were the most likely to opt for non-alcoholic products. Demand among the the 21-35 age group is almost one-half higher than among those older then 35. Meanwhile, those who have participated in Dry January show 65 percent greater “purchase interest” than those who haven’t previously taken part.
The other caveat in all of those? The consumers most likely to go non-alcoholic aren’t drinking much wine anyway. If the study’s numbers add up, craft beer and hard seltzer producers should be especially worried.
