Purchase Intent for Alcohol brands peaks in the first half of the year

While it’s typical for Alcohol brands to see more traffic around the holiday season, last year showed that Purchase Intent Rates are actually higher near the first half of the year. Valentine’s Day, February 14th, saw the highest Purchase Intent Rate of the year at 11.8 percent.

So far this year, however, Purchase Intent Peaks have been in March. The highest Purchase Intent Rate to date has been March 13th, with a Purchase Intent Rate of 6.6 percent.

Purchase Intent Rates for Alcohol Brands, 2023

Purchase Intent Rates for Alcohol Brands, 2024

Instacart is the top checkout option for Alcohol Brands

Right now, among the top five checkout options for Alcohol brands, Instacart leads the way, with 34 percent of Purchase Intent Clicks. Total Wine follows with 28.7 percent. Walmart is third with 23.5 percent. Minibar comes in fourth with 7.9 percent, and Kroger rounds out the top five checkout options seeing 5.9 percent.

Top 5 Alcohol Checkout Options, Share of eCommerce Traffic

Chris Rogers of Instacart on Developing Strong Retailer Relationships, and Utilizing AI for Commerce   "One of our main objectives is to make sure that our platform is not a luxury. We are investing heavily in ways for consumers to save. There are already so many ways to save on our platform like next-day delivery, we have enabled EBT SNAP, there are hundreds of retailers on our platform with seamless in-store pricing. “

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Instacart Spotlight: Life after Drizly

 

In March of 2023,  the popular Alcohol delivery service, Drizly sunsetted, causing checkout preferences to shift. At the time, MikMak data showed that Instacart was positioned to drive the next most traffic behind Drizly. That still yields true. When looking at a snapshot of the last 30 days (April 12th, 2024 - May 12th, 2024, after the Drizly sunset), Instacart drove 37.3 percent of Purchase Intent Clicks when stacked up against the top 5 Alcohol checkout options.

Top 5 Alcohol Checkout Options, Share of eCommerce Traffic

 

Instacart has also recently launched a new UberEats partnership, meaning shoppers may soon be able to purchase their favorite spirits alongside their favorite takeout options. This might be a new opportunity for Alcohol brands to create partnerships, or see their products purchased alongside non-traditional items. 

Instacart has also been seen in the eCommerce space as  a platform on the cutting edge of commerce, utilizing retail media and AI capabilities such as their “Ask Instacart” feature to connect consumers with brands.

Watch MikMak Founder and CEO, Rachel Tipograph talk about Instacart on Yahoo Finance:

Bourbon sees the highest Purchase Intent Rates, compared to other Alcohol products

When looking at the products currently driving the highest Purchase Intent Rates, or the likelihood that a shopper will click through to a retailer option, Bourbon takes the lead. While the Purchase Intent Rate does not measure product popularity, it can give brands an idea of what products people might likely add to their cart after seeing branded media.

Top 10 Alcohol Items (by liquor type) 

Florida sees the highest Purchase Intent Rates for Alcohol Shoppers in the US

Alcohol Shoppers are most likely to purchase Thursday evenings

Likelihood of Conversion for Alcohol, by Household Size

1-Person Households are most likely to purchase Alcohol, and drive the most traffic to Alcohol Brands

With consistent, real-time reporting and easy access to consumer, retailer, and platform insights, brands’ internal teams and agencies can save a ton of time and money. Couple these insights with best practices, and your team will be sure to gain market share and drive profitability time and time again.

Best Practices for Social Ads

• 1.  Feed-Based Video Ads
  • Design with sound off in mind.
  • Capture attention within the first few seconds
  • Showcase your brand early and consistently throughout the video
  • Optimize for the 4:5 aspect ratio to maximize screen real estate
  • Experiment and try new approaches to engage viewers effectively
• 2. Reels (and Story) Video Ads:
  
  • Keep it simple and highlight a single benefit or product
  • Try unconventional angles or perspectives to make your content stand out
  • Use varied layouts and interesting compositions 
  • Create a focal point in the foreground to guide viewers' attention
• 3. Image Ads in the Feed
  
  • Consider the mobile best practices mentioned earlier
  • Tailor the messaging to resonate with the target audience's needs
  • Focus on your core products that drive the majority of omnichannel sales
  • Pay attention to merchandising to enhance the appeal of your ads

How MikMak saves time and money

MikMak offers one easy-to-use global platform that automatically enables consistent reporting and fast decision-making across the entire organization. With the MikMak Platform, brands can also leverage direct integrations with third-party Product Information Management (PIM) platforms including Salsify and Syndigo; as well as Data Visualization Platforms and Data Lakes like Tableau and Google Data Studio.

Your Alcohol eCommerce Marketing Checklist

• Get the basics down. Is your Alcohol brand utilizing its brand website? Are you taking a multichannel approach with multi-retailer checkout? Are Instacart, Total Wine, and Walmart part of your checkout options?
• Develop more nuanced insights for consumer relevance. Is your brand’s website utilizing multi-retailer checkout? Which channels are part of their shopping journey? Add the channels and retailers that resonate with your consumers to the mix. Can you expand to new formats like QR codes and CTV?
• Optimize your content. Keep your creative and marketing outreach focused on consumer behavior. Consider implementing Shoppable Recipes or other innovative content to capture new shoppers.
• Be agile and quick with your data, and use insights to adjust your creative and advertising methods effectively
• Explore growth opportunities. Check your performance against category (and subcategory!) benchmarks to see how you stack up against the competition. A/B test creative and messaging to see if purchase intent increases.

Did you know that your brand can gain exclusive first-party consumer insights and multichannel analytics by partnering with MikMak?  Use MikMak Insights to access data that helps your brand develop and apply eCommerce strategies that work, with a complete understanding of consumers' behavior and preferences.

We're here to help. MikMak helps multichannel brands gain deeper consumer insights to grow and protect market share. Contact us at marketing@mikmak.com!