Flavored alcohol continues to chip away at traditional beer, wine and spirits sales in convenience stores.
This insight comes from Dave Williams, president of Bump Williams Consulting, Shelton, Connecticut, who spoke Wednesday at the CSP Cold Vault Forum by Informa. The three-day forum took place May 11-13 in Lombard, Illinois.
Citing NIQ data, Williams said that flavored alcohol beverages—including flavored malt beverages (FMBs), hard seltzers, prepared cocktails and wine-based cocktails—accounted for roughly 21% of total beer, wine and spirits sales in U.S. convenience stores in the year through April 18.
He said sales of flavored alcohol reached about $1.9 billion, up 4.6% from a year earlier, while traditional beer, wine and spirits sales totaled $7.2 billion and declined 2.7%.
“Among flavored alcohol categories, prepared cocktails posted the strongest growth, rising 41% to $242 million, followed by wine-based cocktails, which increased 25% to $227 million,” he said.
Williams said FMBs remained the largest flavored alcohol segment at $911 million in sales, though revenue fell 4% year over year.
“Hard seltzer sales were nearly flat, down 0.3% to $438 million,” he said, adding that growth within flavor, however, is not universal, but that cocktail-style flavored malt beverages remained resilient.
“Smaller pack sizes and single-serve formats are gaining share in higher-end alcohol products,” Williams said, citing NIQ data.
The shift is visible across beer, wine and spirits, including single-can cider packages, which grew 3.7%, he said.
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