CGA’s Graeme Loudon explores post-pandemic consumer trends in cocktails, and highlights how brands and operators can capitalise on spritz serves in the summer season.
The global cocktail market has performed strongly following the reopening of the on-premise channel, with consumers keen to enjoy what they hadn’t been able to experience at home due to Covid-19 restrictions. As the world’s pubs, bars and restaurants return to life, it’s crucial for brands and operators to stay on top of fast-changing consumer behaviours. With the sector on the road to recovery, cocktails and summery spritz serves offer plenty of reasons for suppliers and operators to be optimistic about the future.
Cocktails the key to success
Worldwide, cocktails are key to the future success of on-premise venues. According to CGA’s ‘Research & Analyse Consumers in Hospitality (REACH)’ survey, which brings together key consumer metrics in 24 leading markets at varying stages of recovery, a quarter of all average consumers drink cocktails when out of the home.
When looking at specific markets, there is considerable variation in the penetration of cocktails. The percentage of people who show regular cocktail consumption is higher in Switzerland, Russia and Mexico, with one-third saying they consume mixed drinks in a non-domestic environment. Globally, cocktail consumption is led by Italian drinkers, with 36% opting for mixed drinks when they’re out – 11 percentage points (pp) higher than the global average.
In the UK, the positive performance of mixable spirits segments such as liqueurs & specialities, vodka and rum endorses the growing potential of cocktails in the on-premise. Data from CGA’s ‘2022 On Premise Measurement Service (OPMS)’ shows that vodka is still the country’s leading spirits segment by value. Sitting at 29.1% market share, it has grown by 2.9pp compared to its 2019 value.
Non-cream liqueurs and speciality spirits have also shown convincing growth, growing their combined share of spirits from 2019 by 2.6pp. The segment now sits as the second biggest by value at 19.9%, ahead of gin, which has lost a remarkable -4.9pp share and drops into third with 18.2% value share, as a result of consumer fatigue with the segment during lockdowns.
Whisky, meanwhile, has also seen share loss across imported blended and malts, amounting to -2.3pp, leaving it fifth at 12.2%. The segment comes in behind rum, which now sits at 13.2%, with growth particularly coming from the more accessible spiced sub-segment.
Summer is spritz season
While the entire cocktail scene is experiencing a global boom, spritz serves in particular should be a crucial focus for brands and on-premise operators looking to capitalise on the summer season in the Northern Hemisphere.
In the US, the average outlet earned 16% more during summer 2019 (June to September) than across the rest of the year from spritz-related sales, according to CGA’s ‘BeverageTrak’. By 2021, the number had gone up by 3pp.
CGA’s REACH insights show that cocktail consumers across the globe have a high engagement with spritz serves such as the Aperol Spritz, Bellini, French 75, Kir Royale, Mimosa, Gin Fizz and Tom Collins.
When asked which cocktails they choose when drinking out of home, spritzes were picked by nearly half of respondents in South Africa (47%), the Netherlands (47%), Canada (48%), Australia (48%), France (59%) and the UK (59%). Spritz serves were chosen by well over half in Germany, New Zealand, Thailand and China, while Belgian and Swiss consumers showed a marked interest in the serve, with two-thirds choosing it when out. In Italy, an impressive 83% opted for spritzes when in bars, pubs or restaurants.
Much of these are likely to be Aperol-based: The Aperol Spritz is enjoyed by a whopping 73% of Italian cocktail drinkers. But, while the cocktail is beloved in its homeland, it’s also widely popular elsewhere, drunk by more than one in five cocktail consumers in France, the UK, Australia, the Netherlands and Belgium, while one in three chose it in Germany and almost one in two in Switzerland.
As the Aperol Spritz’s positive performance in Italy suggests, brands and operators should be aware that the appeal of a cocktail’s base alcohol often plays a crucial role in determining the demand for specific spritz serves across different markets. The Champagne-based Kir Royale is overwhelmingly popular in France, where it was chosen by 38% of all cocktail consumers; the Gin Fizz is enjoyed by over a quarter of cocktail drinkers in the UK and the Prosecco-based Bellini is once again favoured in Italy, where it appeals to nearly a quarter of drinkers.
Consumers show their premium potential
The spritz cocktail audience is an increasingly lucrative consumer segment whose marketable potential has enlarged significantly following the reopening of the hospitality sector.
Some spritz drinkers (36%) are consuming more cocktails when out of home (+10%) and trying a wider range of drinks too, compared with the total of cocktail drinkers. Spritz drinkers tend to be more open to an array of drinks categories, saying they also enjoy wine (+27% compared to the global average), beer (+12%) and soft drinks (+11%). Furthermore, they consume more neat spirits (+15%), cider (+12%) and no- & low-alcohol alternative beverages (+9%).
Not only do they show cross-category flexibility, but spritz cocktail consumers are also more likely to choose premium drinks and cocktail brands than the global average. Eighteen per cent of them claim they’d be willing to pay more for a premium drink: that’s 3% more than the total of cocktail
drinkers, and a significant 7% more than the global average.
Spritz drinkers were already more prone to trade up than cocktail or average consumers in the pre-pandemic period, particularly in the Brazilian, Australian, Russian and South Korean markets. Yet, data shows this audience’s potential has increased since the reopening of the on-premise, with 22% of spritz drinkers – particularly in Canada, Nigeria and China – claiming they have purchased ‘premium’ or ‘more expensive’ cocktails since bars, pubs and restaurants have resumed operations. Nearly half of all spritz drinkers say they’ve paid more for a cocktail specifically described as being of better quality; an especially significant figure that’s 10pp and 19pp higher than the total cocktail drinker and the global average, respectively.
The UK shows promise
CGA’s ‘Mixed Drinks 2021’ report shows that 72% of consumers in the UK say they would choose a spritz serve when out, illustrating the serve’s growth potential in the market.
Spritzes are yet to enjoy widespread loyalty in the country – although this has grown since 2020 – with only 11% saying they consume it every time they go out. Combined with the serve’s overall popularity, however, this lack of consumer loyalty means there is still plenty of unexplored potential that brands and operators can tap into.
Additionally, the array of spritz serves that appeal to UK consumers ranges widely: white wine spritzers are chosen by almost a third of drinkers, while nearly a quarter look at gin and Aperol-based serves with interest.
Flavoured gin should be considered a tempting playground for new product development, as flavoured gin spritzes appeal to a fifth of UK consumers. While competition within spritz is intensifying, UK consumers are open to a variety of variations, to be enjoyed both in conventional cocktail bars as well as in less traditional spritz-serving venues.
The warmer months always offer brands and operators the opportunity to review their spritz presence. Not only can businesses capitalise on consumers’ welcoming attitude towards riffs on classic serves, but spritz imbibers’ pursuit of premium drinking experiences – and openness towards alternative beverage categories – also represent compelling opportunities to maximise revenues from each consumer visit. With spritzes representing such a key component of cocktail consumers’ warm weather drinking habits – and with the category boasting such a widespread appeal across a number of markets – the summer looks bright for drinks brands and operators.
Graeme Loudon is CGA’s MD for EMEA. [email protected]
This article was initially published in June’s issue of Global Drinks Intel magazine. For details on how to subscribe, click here.
