Shoppers in Australia are visiting liquor stores more frequently but spending less per trip, according to new data from consumer intelligence company NIQ. The findings come as most major liquor retailers reported declines in the 12-month period to October 2023.
NIQ’s Omnishopper data reveals that the number of Australian households who purchased liquor declined by -3.2%, while the average trips to the liquor store per household grew (+3.5%). Spend per trip on liquor products declined (-2.3%), as did the units per trip (-3.2%).
Queenslanders were the most frequent liquor shoppers and averaged 16 trips in the latest 12-month period. South Australians spent the most per liquor shopping trip – averaging $62 per trip.
NIQ’s Pacific Managing Director, Pete Sheridan, says the competition for share of consumer wallet is ramping up for liquor brands and retailers.
“Against a backdrop of decreasing households purchasing in the category, coupled with economic pressures, insight into demographic profiles and nuances has never been more important,” he says.
According to the NIQ data, most major liquor retailers reported declines in the year to October 2023. Endeavour Group declined in value sales -3.0% driven by BWS (-3.6%) followed by Dan Murphy’s (-2.5%). Coles Liquor Group was flat (-0.1%), propped up by Liquorland who reported a 6.8% year-on-year value increase, and made up for double-digit declines reported by First Choice (-10.2%).
Online liquor value sales across major liquor retailers declined by -18.1% in the latest 12-month period versus prior year. Double digit declines were recorded in the NIQ data for all categories, with RTD experiencing the steepest decline in online value sales by major liquor retailers.
“Online liquor sales experienced a boom in 2020 / 2021 and we are seeing this taper off and normalise,” explains Mr Sheridan. “Despite the current declines off the back of an arguably inflated period the prior years, we expect online sales to normalise and return to growth in the future.”