Our executive vice president Shira Horn recently weighed in on the latest trends surrounding non-alcoholic and low alcohol beers in an article for Beverage Daily, No and Low Alcohol Beer is Here to Stay. In it, she covers marketplace trends and consumer sentiment that is driving an increased demand for no-low beer options, and how brands and distributors can stay a step ahead in this burgeoning space.
She writes about how expectations around non-alcoholic beer are changing, and are “less like something you’d find in the cooler at your parent’s house and more like the craft offerings you’d find at a hip, neighborhood bar.” As generations, particularly Millennials, become more health conscious, they may be changing their relationship to alcohol, but they still want the intentional marketing (clean and healthful) and product offerings (craft, sustainable, local) that they’ve come to expect from most products.
Millennials and older Gen Zers are “sober curious and socially conscious” and this mindful approach to drinking should be taken into account by beverage brands, marketers and others. In fact, employers should even take note, Shira writes, as these groups no longer feel that drinking with colleagues (one in three) is a positive office perk. In addition, these powerful generations are drinking at home (52%) and this is unlikely to change, and they are still buying based on values and will support brands that bolster these values. Shira suggests that brands “seeking to engage with this mindful, craft-focused generation will need to find new ways to reach and evaluate their offerings, such as in-home usage tests, implicit response testing, choice exercises and other applicable market research techniques.”
With the non-alcoholic beer market growing fast, there is still opportunity for both large and independent brands to make their mark. Consumers are pushing for innovations in this section, and the no-low trend is here to stay. Shira suggests that “proper Market Research into the evolving sentiments surrounding alcohol-use and cultural relationships to wellness will be key in positioning your product for success.”
Read the full article here: https://www.beveragedaily.com/Article/2021/12/16/No-and-low-alcohol-beer-is-here-to-stay#
