Retailers, Suppliers Look To Capitalize On Holiday Trends

Nearly all retailers generate a disproportionate amount of their revenue during the winter holiday season. Aiming to make the most out of the season, suppliers are releasing special flavors, products, and packaging to help spur those sales further.

With all these products, the goal is incremental business during a buying season that’s already bustling. “Customers come in for whatever they planned to buy, then because they’re in the holiday mood they go for an impulse item,” says Adithya Bathena, owner and president of Super Buy-Rite Wine & Liquor in Jersey City, New Jersey, and CEO of the Buy-Rite Corp. “It breaks the average ticket, sending sales even higher.”

“Holidays bring people together, and offering holiday-centric expressions, flavors, and packaging allow our iconic brands to become an integral part of our consumers’ holiday traditions,” says Pernod Ricard USA chief commercial officer John Barrett.

For Brown-Forman, the focus is on premium gift-giving, according to director of customer and trade marketing for the U.S. and Canada Loren Catrambone. She points to a Gentleman Jack with sour mix pack ($32) and a similar offering for 1.75-ml. with an added glass ($56) among those getting the company’s attention this year. Meanwhile, Pernod Ricard USA is capitalizing on the popularity of Espresso Martinis by offering a value-added pack (VAP) featuring Absolut and Rise cold brew ($19), and has a gift set with rocks glasses and a limited-edition bottle of Martell Blue Swift ($65), the VSOP Cognac finished in Bourbon casks.

Specialty flavors can also spur excitement and trial during the holiday season. Major producers are in the mix, including Brown-Forman with Jack Daniel’s Winter Jack Spiced Apple Punch ($27 a 750-ml.) and Diageo with Crown Royal Salted Caramel ($30), among many others. Pernod Ricard is also offering Monkey 47 Distiller’s Cut Edition 13, featuring a rare 48th botanical: acer saccharum, more commonly known as maple syrup. The product retails for $290 a 750-ml.

While all beverage alcohol has a gifting component, in recent years suppliers have upped the focus on whiskey and consumers have responded. Bathena says customers are keen to find something unique. Using Diageo’s Classic Malts ranges as an example, he says customers are willing to pay more “because it’s not a bottle they pick up on the shelf every day.” Single barrel offerings have the same appeal, offering consumers “a little deviation” from the standard brand.

Diageo is taking a personal touch with Johnnie Walker, offering Johnnie Walker Blue Label Personalized Bottles ($249 a 750-ml.) with custom engraving. And Dewar’s has partnered with iconic French crystal manufacturer Baccarat to release a limited-edition set of its Double Double 37 expression with cut crystal glassware ($1,799 for the holiday gift pack).

Tagged : Absolut, Bacardi, Brown-Forman, Dewar's, Diageo, Jack Daniel's, Johnnie Walker, Martell, Pernod Ricard

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