Wine and spirits retailers’ delivery programs continue to expand rapidly amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

E-commerce delivery platform Drizly has seen business more than triple this year. “We’ve had an increase in sales of 350% year-to-date,” says Jaci Flug, Drizly’s general counsel.

Recently, more and more states—Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, and Oklahoma among them—have expanded their beverage alcohol delivery laws to allow for home delivery. In all, 25 states now permit the delivery of wine, spirits, and beer, and another eight states permit wine and beer deliveries.

While the wine category has been popular in the delivery channel for years via direct-to-consumer (DTC) shipping, the spirits category is now having its moment. Wine.com, the country’s No.-1 online wine retailer, began selling spirits last year in New York, Florida, and New Jersey, and California was tacked on this February. “In the four states where we offer spirits, it has represented 12% to 15% of our monthly revenue,” says Mike Osborn, founder and executive vice president of Wine.com. “Whiskey represents 44% of sales, followed by Tequila, gin, and rum.”

This year, Wine.com customers have purchased more than 2,500 different spirits labels to date. “Like our wine business, our customers prefer premium spirits selections,” Osborn says. “Our average selling price for spirits in 2020 is $45.16. This bodes well for the future of artisanal spirits online.”

Trading up has also been prevalent at Drizly, where the average dollar sales order has increased 29% since last year, from $52 up to $67. “The average order went up in price on its own and then there was a time, especially in April, when retailers were increasing their minimum order because the demand was so high that they couldn’t keep up and needed to be more cost effective,” says Flug. 

Article from Shaken posted on Sept 25th, 2020 | Market Watch has more on the booming home-delivery market for wine and spirits.—Kevin Barry