Florence Welch of “Florence & The Machines” sings within the tune “Moderation,” “Need me to like you moderately/Do I look average to you?” The British songstress illustrates an individual confronting an detached companion. Though romantics may not be curious about partaking with a average admirer, shoppers more and more are embracing moderation of their beverage alcohol consumption, prompting a motion within the non-alcohol (NA) beer market.
“Moderation pushed by client well-being targets are driving progress in non-alcoholic beer,” says Christal Torres, senior supervisor of shopper insights at Chicago-based Circana. “Shoppers are aligning their meals and beverage decisions to well-being targets, together with weight reduction as one of many high cited targets in a Circana March 2024 survey.
“When requested why shoppers are ingesting much less alcohol in an April 2024 survey by Circana companion CivicScience, respondents most frequently cited their motive to enhance bodily well being,” she continues. “As glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) utilization is predicted to proceed to develop for weight management, the beverage alcohol class might see extra weight-control-related gross sales declines as GLP-1 households spend much less on the class.”
Brian Sudano, CEO at S&D Insights LLC, Norwalk, Conn., additionally calls consideration to life-style decisions and weight-reduction plan medicines influencing the alcohol-free beer class.
“The motion to scale back alcohol consumption facilitated by life-style, weight-reduction plan medication and anti-alcohol curiosity teams,” he says. “This coupled with improved supply of upper high quality NA beer options have pushed speedy progress of NA beer.”
This enchancment in high quality for non-alcohol beer has discovered a method to enchantment to a various client demographic.
“The enchantment is best amongst a bifurcated client group skewing towards decrease ingesting ranges with Gen Z and over 55 which, mixed with weight-reduction plan medication, are getting medical recommendation to scale back alcohol consumption,” Sudano says.
High non-alcohol beers (Model household)
*Contains manufacturers not listed.
Supply: Circana, Chicago. Whole U.S. multi-outlets (grocery, drug, mass
merchandisers, comfort, army commissaries, and choose membership and greenback
retail chains) for the 52 weeks ending Jan. 26, 2025.
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Ryan Toenies, senior director of shopper insights at Circana, additional provides that NA beer shoppers skew white, larger revenue, white collar/retired and being from the infant boomer technology. Nonetheless, these skews are usually not the one make-up for the phase, he notes, including that youthful authorized ingesting age shoppers additionally take part within the class.
Toenies elaborates that past demographics, non-alcoholic beer appeals to each non-beer and beer shoppers.
“Whereas the phase brings shoppers in that don’t drink the class in any other case, it’s serving to retain shoppers which are getting old out or slowing consumption for well being causes,” he says.
Regardless of the expansion and alternative, non-alcoholic beer nonetheless has challenges to face, notably from different NA variations of conventional beverage alcohol.
“Within the brief time period, NA beer has loads of runway,” S&D Insights’ Sudano says. “Nonetheless, over time NA cocktail choices and NA wine blends will work together with NA beer just like [flavored malt beverages] (FMBs) and [ready-to-drink] (RTD) cocktails.”
Moreover, Circana’s Toenies cautions that as extra manufacturers enter the market, distribution accessibility can be extra challenged.
“As entrants proceed to come back into the area it should turn into tougher for brewers to get distribution,” he says. “At the moment the phase is a 1.0 greenback share of beer, however a 2.4 share of things in distribution already. The query can be how a lot area will retailers be prepared to present the phase?”
Nonetheless, S&D Insights’ Sudano compares the U.S. market’s attain to European counterparts and thinks alternatives nonetheless exist for the phase to develop.
“Though NA beer has carried out effectively over the previous few years, it stays considerably smaller than in Europe,” he says. “As extra manufacturers increase availability together with better distribution by market leaders, we anticipate the class to proceed rising at double digits in 2025.”
Circana’s Torres additionally anticipates robust efficiency for the class and its key gamers this yr.
“We’re assured to see the non-alcoholic phase proceed to evolve within the new yr, particularly with the brand new innovation in This fall 2024 akin to Bero by Tom Holland, Firestone Walker 805 NA Blonde Ale, Patagonia Provisions x Deschutes Brewery Kernza Golden Brew, and January 2025 new launches like Michelob Extremely Zero and Mash Gang Tropical Cerveza, Mango IPA and Cherry Stout,” she concludes.
