Coverage continued from Thursday, August 26. Part 1 available here: https://www.brewbound.com/news/key-takeaways-from-the-brewers-associations-2022-harris-poll-consumer-survey
Consumer Decisions Increasingly Driven by Brand over Style
Craft consumers have consistently reported style as the driving factor when choosing a craft beer, but brand has become increasingly more important, Brewers Association (BA) chief economist Bart Watson shared Thursday while revealing the trade group’s annual consumer survey conducted by the Harris Poll.
Harris Poll surveyed 2,035 legal-drinking-age (LDA) consumers from May 18-26. Respondents all drink craft at least several times a year, or more.
In 2016, more than three-quarters of respondents (76%) prioritized style when making craft beer purchases, while 24% prioritized brand. In 2022, it’s closer to a 60/40 split, with 62% prioritizing style and 38% prioritizing brand.
“[There’s] a little bit more confidence in craft beer drinks choices; they know the brands they like,” Watson said. “And maybe – this is, again, an aging population – people tend to get more locked into brands as they get older.”
The number of brands craft drinkers are buying has remained relatively “static,” at around 3 craft beer brands over the course of a month. Consumers aged 35-44 is the “key gauge” for calculating this stat, as that demographic typically buys the most brands, Watson said. That population is growing by about 500,000 right now, which may lead to shifts in the future.
The growing age demographic may also lead to future clashes between consumer wants and retailer decisions, as retailers are increasingly cutting brands, while the age group purchasing a wider variety of brands grows. The conflicting wants could lead to opportunities for direct-to-consumer shipping, or a continued increase in at-the-brewery sales, Watson said.
“We have a lot of people growing in this demographic that wants a lot of brands, and if retailers and distributors are cutting them, they’re going to seek them out in other places,” he continued.
Despite the increase in brand importance, style is still king. The amount of styles consumers are dabbling in increases proportionally with how often consumers are drinking craft, with daily craft drinkers dabbling in the most in style variety.
“Crisp” flavors – balanced beers that aren’t too malty or hoppy – are consistently chosen by craft drinkers regardless of how frequently they reach for a craft beer, and are particularly popular with younger LDA consumers. Meanwhile “tart” beers, such as sours, are more popular with frequent craft drinkers, and less popular with consumers who drink craft several times a year or only once a month.
“When you look at the daily drinkers here, almost 50% of them say they’re more interested in tart beers than they were a year ago,” Watson said. “Cutting the data this way shows to me a lot of opportunities and a lot of directions, because the people who drink craft the most – daily, or several times a week, or once a week – are more interested in a wider range of flavors.”
Juicy/hazy and fruity beers, which have steadily increased in popularity since 2019, declined slightly in 2022, with just over 40% of consumers indicating more interest in the flavors this year, versus between 43%-45% in 2021. Next year’s Harris Poll results should give a better indication of whether this is a trend, or just a result of the poll’s sampling, Watson said.
Crafting Brand Identity May be More Important Now than Ever
With more than 9,000 craft breweries, consumers have had more brands to choose from on the shelf than ever before. The majority of craft consumers are content with that amount of choice, as 43% described the amount of items available in stores as “just enough.” However, those consumers are declining, while the number who believe there are too many choices – about 39% in the most recent poll – is increasing.
To stand out on crowded and potentially overwhelming shelves, solidifying a brand identity is key, Watson said.
“Based on the trends that I see, there are lots of ways to differentiate, but you really got to be focused on differentiation far more than before,” Watson said. “The era of just opening a brewery that looks like all the other breweries and selling the broad suite of beers is over. The era of really customizing your brewery or its place and its clientele is only going to get more intense going forward.
“I don’t know if there’s one best strategy — we see breweries thriving with a bunch of different strategies — but you’ve got to be focused on that and they’ve all got to align,” he continued. “What you are selling matches your location, matches your clientele, matches your beers, matches your service, matches your brand.”
Crafting the right taproom atmosphere could be a key to standing out and increasing sales, particularly with younger LDA consumers.
The average number of breweries craft drinkers are visiting each year has remained relatively steady. Respondents reported visiting an average of 3.1 local craft breweries in 2022 (flat vs. 2021), and 2.6 craft breweries while traveling (up from 2.4 in 2021).
“At some level, that’s good,” Watson said. “On another level, if the number of breweries continues to grow and visits are stable, and the consumer population is stable, that means average visits for a brewery would typically be going down a little bit.”
Watson noted that people often “misremember” how many breweries they’ve visited in a given year, so numbers should be taken “with a grain of salt.”
The percentage of craft consumers who visited at least one brewery this year has also remained steady in recent years, with 66% visiting at least one local brewery in the past year, and 56% visiting at least one brewery while traveling.
“Not seeing a lot of growth anymore – we were seeing growth for a few years – but not seeing any declines yet either,” Watson said.
Craft drinkers aged 21-44 are most likely to change their purchasing habits of a craft brewery’s beer, based on their experience at taprooms. Atmosphere and a family friendly environment were driving reasons why those consumers cited visiting breweries. For older craft consumers, purchasing habits are less likely to change after visiting a brewery, as they may have already found go-to brands. But they are driven to visit taprooms for sampling opportunities, and the feeling of exclusivity.
“What we see as we start to break this apart by demographic is they’re very different reasons why people visit breweries, and breweries should really be thinking about their clientele and catering to those,” Watson said.