US alcohol e-commerce boom valued at more than $6 billion

According to the 2022 Alcohol E-Commerce Report released by Rabobank , online alcohol sales in the United States have now reached US$6.1 billion, an increase of 131% since 2019 , accounting for 4% of alcohol sales across all channels .

Like other commodities, online purchases of alcohol soared 238% year-on-year in 2020 , driven by the pandemic . Although the growth rate slowed down in 2021 , it is still growing , with an annual growth rate of 9% .

More and more physical retailers are selling alcohol online , driving the growth of online business . For example, Walmart will increase the number of stores offering online alcohol sales in the United States from 200 in 2019 to 1,500 by the end of 2021.

At the same time, with the convenience of local delivery and curbside pickup , the revenue of collectors' wine sellers has also achieved strong growth, with a year-on-year increase of 151% in 2020. In the past, it was mostly high-end consumers and collectors looking for rare wines who consumed these channels , but now these stores are also expanding their online networks and serving the daily needs of the public.

In addition, online DTC channel sales of alcohol have also increased, increasing by 73% in 2020 , and online DTC channel sales accounted for 23% of the total US$7.2 billion wine DTC business in the United States . Rabobank pointed out that retailers are increasingly inclined to regard alcohol as the "most important lever" to drive overall growth in their e-commerce business .

The report's author, analyst Bourcard Nesin , also said that e-commerce will be the primary driver of growth in the beverage industry over the next decade and will be a key component in building brand awareness across both online and offline channels .

In addition to the online grocery channel, alcohol sales in online marketplaces such as Drizly and Instacart also grew 274% in 2020, and the two companies now account for 86% of the market share in this channel . At the same time, the growth of this channel has also attracted a lot of investment from alcohol brands , and it is expected to grow further by 15% in 2022.

Rabobank said that due to the stickiness of the channel and increased investment by brands , retailers and technology companies, it is expected that the overall sales of alcohol in the online channel will increase by about 3.4% in 2022. Nesin also warned that companies that fail to actively invest in e-commerce teams will find it difficult to maintain their existing market share.

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Cross-border e-commerce market

Wine Market