65% of US consumers were unaware they could buy alcohol online, according to a 2018 study from Constellation Brands. However, the COVID-19 pandemic is closing the awareness gap as more consumers begin to purchase alcohol online. According to Drizly, “new users on their platform accounted for 41% sales so far in March, compared to 15% during normal times.” Similarly, Instacart noticed an increase in their weekly application downloads by 400%.
Moving forward, those consumers will decide whether purchasing alcohol online fits their needs, but this could be a wakeup call to beverage alcohol trade groups to start encouraging states to create straightforward and unambiguous rules that offer clarity to retailers, remove unreasonable barriers to fulfilling online orders, preserve the three-tier system, and continue to protect the public health, according to Rabobank.
Source: Rabobank, April 2020