Shopper traffic for Alcohol peaks for the festive season in both the UK and France

It’s typical for Alcohol brands to see more shopper traffic around the holiday season. In the UK, December was by far the best month, followed by November and May. Similarly, in France, December collected the most Purchase Intent Clicks, followed by November, and January came third.

The first quarter of the year reaches high Purchase Intent Rates in the UK, while spring is stronger in France

While traffic was at its highest at the end of the year, the first quarter of the calendar year 2024 has presented the highest average Purchase Intent Rates overall in the UK. The top 3 months of the year are January, March, and February. Let’s not forget that the beginning of the year offers several occasion-based marketing opportunities for brands such as Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, and the Six Nations rugby championship.

In France, May is in the top position, followed by December then April, indicating that spring 2024 has been driving Alcohol eCommerce. The rainy weather in France this spring may have influenced shoppers’ Alcohol consumption at home, and therefore eCommerce. It has been the fourth rainiest spring ever recorded, with over 45 percent more rain compared to a typical spring in France.

Amazon is the top checkout option for Alcohol brands in the UK

Right now, among the top five checkout options for Alcohol brands in the UK, Amazon leads the way, with 32.3 percent of Purchase Intent Clicks. Asda follows with 15.4 percent. Sainsbury’s is third with 13.8 percent. Waitrose comes in fourth with 12.3 percent, and Tesco rounds out the top five checkout options seeing a 6.2 percent share of clicks.

Top 5 Alcohol Retailers - UK
By share of Purchase Intent Clicks

Specialized retailers and Amazon lead the eCommerce traffic for Alcohol in France

Interestingly, among the top five checkout options for Alcohol brands in France, a specialized wine and spirits retailer Millesima leads the way, with 29.4 percent of Purchase Intent Clicks. Amazon follows in second place with 18.7 percent. Specialized champagne retailer Plus de Bulles is third with 10.9 percent. La Grande Epicerie, a gourmet Food & Beverage retailer comes in fourth with 9.7 percent, and Vinatis, another specialized Alcohol retailer, rounds out the top five with a 5.7 percent share.

Top 5 Alcohol retailers - FR
By share of Purchase Intent Clicks

Consumer-Centric Commerce: How to Drive eCommerce Growth with the Ultimate Omnichannel Brand Experience

How Alcohol brands grow, commerce-first | MikMak x Suntory Global Spirits x Pinterest

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

• Make your products discoverable: Is your Alcohol brand utilizing its media and brand website effectively to drive and measure retailer sales? Using an advanced Where-to-Buy solution with multi-retailer checkout options allows you to increase your chances of conversion, and collect first-party data to identify your best-performing assets and channels.
• Leverage real-time transactional insights from your marketing initiatives: How and where do your audiences convert? Identify which channels, campaigns, and retailers are part of your consumers’ shopping journey to place your media investments at the right time and in the right places. 
• Optimize your content and be agile with your data: Tailor your creative to be relevant to the specific audience segment targeted in your campaign. Understanding your audience's needs and preferences will enable you to create content that resonates with them effectively. Keep your creative and marketing outreach focused on consumer behavior, and use insights to adjust your methods quickly to save time and money.
• 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. Can you expand to new formats like shoppable QR codes and CTV ?

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!