Getting dressed and leaving your house is becoming less and less necessary every day, and people are taking note.
Nearly one in 10 adults 21 years or older buy at least some of their alcohol online, according to a recent Harris Poll. The poll found that 8 percent of all adults and 12 percent of adults who were classified as “regular adult beverage buyers” purchased alcohol online. Wine was the most popular beverage choice with 42 percent of online alcohol purchases, followed by spirits at 35 percent, and beer at 29 percent.
So who is buying alcohol online? On average, people were younger (average age of 39), male (77 percent), married (73 percent), employed full time (71 percent), and lived in the Northeast (31 percent).
“While online purchasing of alcohol may be lagging that of other categories today, we expect it will continue to grow rapidly as more e-commerce channels are made available and online barriers are overcome,” Danny Brager, senior vice president of Nielsen’s beverage alcohol practice, said in a statement.
Agoraphobias have found it easier than ever to get their hooch. Online alcohol ordering and delivery has been on the rise in recent years. Start up companies like MiniBar and Drizly make it easy to place and order and expect your bottle to arrive in a certain time window. Big companies are getting into the game too. Amazon’s alcohol delivery ordering and delivery services for Amazon Prime members continues to expand into more and more cities.
As people who are technology natives come of age, it’s expected that the number of people doing their booze shopping online will only increase. For now, the Harris Poll found, half of people who purchased alcohol online went to the store to pick it up, and only 11 percent of people who only buy at brick and mortar stores say they will try out buying alcohol online.
Online alcohol purchases aren’t going anywhere, and the core audience likely won’t be high income males in their 30s for ever. Maybe it’s time to give the future a taste.
