Cocktails will represent a crucial revenue stream for bars, pubs, and restaurants over this festive season. CGA research shows that mixed drinks are currently stocked in some 45,000 On Premise venues. They have a market value of £686m, equivalent to 7% of the total share of spirits sales. With one in five out-of-home consumers drinking cocktails at home, so there’s a significant opportunity to target the audience of nearly 10 million consumers in the On Premise.
To capture such a promising opportunity, suppliers and operators need to optimise their cocktail sales and marketing strategies according to changing consumer behaviours, and CGA’s new Mixed Drinks Report can provide the necessary support to do so.
The report draws on a wide range of CGA research tools to offer suppliers and venues a holistic view of the cocktail market, including insights into sales and trends, significant post-lockdown developments, and crucial consumer profiles. Findings are collected from CGA’s BrandTrack tool, from volumetric sales data, and from a new survey of 1,000 nationally representative On Premise cocktail drinkers. The report also benefits from CGA’s MATCH segmentation insights, designed to define key consumer segments and their preferences for each drinks category.
Mixed opportunities
The Mixed Drinks Report shows that, although frequency of cocktail consumption has recently decreased, there are still ample opportunities within the category. Some consumers are still keen to trade up on more expensive, quality driven mixed drinks on special occasions. Indeed, over two thirds of On Premise British drinkers say they are at least “quite likely”, if not “very likely”, to spend more on a better quality cocktail so venues need to provide great tasting serves if they want to capture this segment.
On the other hand, the current cost of living crisis is affecting purchase behaviour of those seeking value. Promotions can be used as an effective strategy to offer them bang for their buck.
Many consumers, however, are largely undecided on the cocktail they will choose before visiting bars, pubs, and restaurants. Which offers a further opportunity to venues as they can influence consumer decision making ahead of their visits via websites, social media, and digital menus. Supplier and operator cooperation is paramount to produce an effective and efficient online presence that boosts profits.
Research shows that 60% of cocktail drinkers see drinks menus as a key influence when choosing their cocktails. Social media’s popularity also has an influence on consumers’ path to purchase, as 62% browse websites and social media accounts at least sometimes to see what the cocktails on offer look like before purchasing. This visual aspect is also emphasised with consumers (37%) taking pictures of their cocktail and sharing to social media every or almost every time they are drinking cocktails.
By highlighting cocktail market sales and trends, profiling relevant consumer habits and preferences, and suggesting procedures to engage consumers and grow share, CGA’s Mixed Drinks Report offers suppliers and operators the necessary tools to optimise their cocktail strategy, win against competitors, and maximise sales over the upcoming festive period and into 2023.
CGA by NielsenIQ’s Mixed Drinks 2022 Report is based on consumer and sales data to provide a holistic view of the GB cocktail market to inform your strategic decisions. Click here to download more information, or get in touch with Paul Bolton at Paul.Bolton@cgastrategy.com for more details.
