WSWA Sees Nascent Signs Of Off-Premise Uptrading

While overall depletion trends remained subdued in both wine and spirits in May, according to the WSWA’s SipSource, there are nascent signs that consumers have resumed uptrading in the retail channel.

“In spirits, the revenue/volume trend gap—an indicator of pricing and mix strength—was +20 basis points off-premise but declined -50 basis points on-premise,” SipSource noted in reviewing May data. “For wine, the gap was even more notable: +80 basis points off-premise and -30 basis points on-premise, suggesting consumers may be leaning into quality purchases when shopping retail, but trading down when dining or drinking out.”

Overall, spirits depletions fell 13.1% in volume and 11.9% in revenue during May—which had one fewer shipping day than a year ago—while wine declined 14.3% in volume and 13.8% in revenue. The WSWA said year-over-year comps for wine will get easier in the next four months, but a bit tougher for spirits.

Meanwhile, the wholesaler group noted some trends to watch in certain categories looking ahead. Among them, Cognac has shown signs of stabilizing and will benefit from weak comps in the coming months, while “Tequila—particularly Añejo—has seen highly volatile short-term trends, ranging from +23.8% growth to -22.9% declines over the past five months.” Elsewhere, Champagne and imported sparkling wine have gained momentum this year, resuming their upward trajectory.—Daniel Marsteller

Tagged : Cognac, on-premise, SipSource, Tequila, WSWA

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