The New Wine Consumer: Demographics

Boxed wines. Bag-in-box. Who knew 10 years ago that such packaging would not only be embraced by US wine consumers, but become the fastest growing packaging segment with annual growth in volume between 20% and 44% since 2002?!? The wine industry is reverent of the conventions and traditions of wine that have arisen throughout the ages. Whereas other beverages have seized every form of container made to market their products, wine has adhered to the packaging innovations from medieval times: the glass bottle with natural cork. Today’s customers have embraced every form of beverage packaging, from the single-serve aseptic pouch to the syrup container or keg dispensed through a tap, and everything in-between.

Increasing acceptance of wine

Convenience, situation, demographics, innovation, and market segments have all driven beverage packaging to become diverse, convenient, timely, trendy, and meet the needs of the sellers and consumers. Wine, until recently, has resisted adapting to seller and consumer needs for fear of alienating those same persons. But today’s wine market in the US is changing rapidly. The generation that has dominated the retail landscape, and especially the wine market, the Baby Boomers, are now beginning to settle into their golden years.

Their acceptance and consumption of wine has taught a whole new generation – Millennials (those born between 1980 and 1995) – to embrace wine even more. It is the combined forces of the aging Baby Boomers and the Millennials coming of age that are causing the rapid changes seen in the wine market:

• Steady increases in dollar and case sales since 2000.
• Rising sales of imports and wines priced in the super-premium category and above.
• Breakthrough varietals such as Pinot Noir, Pinot Grigio, and Riesling.
• Adoption of innovative wine packaging such as boxed wines, screw caps, synthetic corks, aluminum cans, single-serves, plastic bottles, and aseptic boxes and pouches.

Millennials

The Millennials have embraced wine as a preference among alcoholic beverages in a generational trend not seen since the Baby Boomers. But unlike older generations, Millennials have an adventurous approach to purchasing, seeking out products and packaging that meet their active lifestyles and social needs with the focus on quality, value, flexibility, trendy, and environmental impact.

Click Here to read a great blog post about Millenials and Wine by Inertia.

Baby Boomers

The first modern generation of wine drinkers, Baby Boomers, is grabbing headlines as they move into their golden years. Baby Boomers are seeking to celebrate their accomplishments through convenience mixed with healthy lifestyle choices, and wine continues to be a big factor in their choice of an alcoholic beverage.

Their increased purchasing power has not diminished their need and desire for everyday drinking wines, and innovations in regards to convenience and accessibility in packaging are becoming key factors in their purchasing decisions. Older hands are having harder times with corkscrews and corks. The success of the screw cap and fine wine cask are testaments to their openness to new convenient packaging. Furthermore, the convenience of a fresh wine of glass every time anytime is increasingly more important for wine customers of all ages and generations. That, combined with the value boxed wines provide, and the greener aspects of boxed wine packaging, are all key benefits of boxed wine that are meshing with the changing needs and desires of the US wine market.