The American Craft Spirits Association (ACSA) has joined a group of national organizations representing distillers to form a strategic partnership to advance direct-to-consumer (DtC) shipping laws.
ACSA is aligning with the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS) and the American Distilling Institute (ADI) to make the passage of DtC shipping laws a top legislative priority.
A March survey of more than 2,000 spirits consumers, conducted for DISCUS in by IWSR Drinks Market Analysis, showed overwhelming consumer demand for DtC shipping of distilled spirits, similar to wine
According to the key findings:
- Eighty percent of consumers surveyed believe distillers should be allowed to directly ship their products to legal-age consumers in any state.
- At least 76% of consumers would consider purchasing spirits online shipped directly from distillers to them from outside or within their state.
- Seventy-five percent of consumers agree wine and spirits should be subject to the same laws pertaining to DTC across states.
- Close to one in two (45%) have purchased alcohol online direct from a brewery, winery or distillery.
- Thirty-eight percent of respondents report having purchased alcohol online from a producer that was shipped from outside of their state.
- The pandemic accelerated the ability and expectation to shop online. Seventy-three percent of all households surveyed shopped online for groceries, and 47% report they are shopping online more frequently than in the past year.
- Sixty-two percent of consumers have purchased beverage alcohol online (either through DtC or other e-commerce platforms) and consumers are equally likely to have purchased spirits (32%), wine (33%) or beer (31%).
“As nonprofit trade associations, ACSA and DISCUS share the goal of providing a voice for our members,” said Margie A.S. Lehrman, CEO of ACSA. “We seek to enhance and build member businesses by meeting customers’ desires for similar shopping experiences for beer, wine and spirits. These survey results clearly illustrate the importance of this effort, and the need to work collaboratively to help move legislation forward to create these very opportunities.”