The luckiest holiday of the year is underway, and over half of Americans plan to celebrate this year. Everyone has their go to brands for St. Patrick’s Day. Guinness, Bailey’s, and Jameson are just several brands that can expect a surge in popularity this time of year. According to MikMak’s Shopping Index, consumers begin stocking up for St. Patrick’s Day ten days before the event. It is also the middle of our first (and largest) alcohol shopping season for the year.
With consumers more comfortable socializing indoors this year, we can expect to see people drinking and celebrating more at bars and restaurants. However, this does not mean people won’t be buying their favorite St. Patrick’s Day spirits online. Here’s what alcohol brands can expect.
Getting the basics down for alcohol eCommerce
Successful eCommerce initiatives help shoppers experience a brand and buy it, all in a frictionless way. That means:
- Be where your consumers are engaging: Today, shopping starts with social first product discovery. Making your product discoverable and available on a variety of social platforms allows for your brand to capture purchase intent as it arises.
- Be strategic about where your product is available: Once you’ve gotten your shoppers’ attention, direct them to where they can make a purchase. This year, MikMak’s Shopping Index finds that 64 percent of shoppers prefer to check out at grocery stores like Kroger and Ralph’s.
Consumer trends to grow and protect market share
Consumer behavior and preferences are always changing, and MikMak’s Shopping Index has identified unique shopping habits to help brands anticipate how consumers will buy this St. Patrick’s Day. Whereas event-driven shopping occasions in 2021 saw multiple sharper demand peaks, the 2022 Super Bowl saw a single, longer surge of demand leading up to the event date, with the peak on the Friday before Super Bowl Sunday. Instacart also gained popularity this year, beating out Drizly as the top retailer option for alcohol buyers. To drive the most sales, brands need to enable customers to buy anywhere that is convenient for them, seamlessly. So including Instacart, Drizly, and grocery stores is ideal in your retailer mix.
The MikMak Shopping Index found that whiskey is becoming an increasingly popular item shoppers are adding to their baskets. With whiskey being a traditionally popular spirit for St. Paddy’s Day, we expect continued success for this dark liquor. Furthermore, our findings from the Super Bowl showed us that households with one child or fewer have the highest purchase intent rate when it comes to alcohol eCommerce.
New technology and best practices to explore
As online shopping habits evolve, keeping the customers’ convenience and accessibility to your product is paramount. Consider using advertising platforms like OTT and livestreaming in addition to your social channels to reach more customers and increase your brand awareness. Add in omnichannel engagement options like QR codes to enhance the shopping experience. For example, AriZona SunRise’s use of QR codes in their Hulu CTV Pause Ads allowed retail checkouts directly from their ads. Introducing this creative alternative for shoppers showed an increase of 400 percent to their average add to cart rate, all by advertising in a more accessible way.
As you run your campaigns this St. Patrick’s Day, remember to blend the basics with best practices, and collect data at every stage of the shopping journey. For more information on alcohol eCommerce this St. Patrick’s Day and beyond, be sure to join us for our exclusive webinar with Heineken on March 16th!
