Gin best-selling online spirit during lockdown

By Lisa Riley

Published: 10 June, 2020

Gin has been reported to be the best-selling spirit across online platforms during the Covid-19 lockdown.

With shoppers heading online to stock up on alcohol, the WSTA said that the latest reports have shown gin as the best-selling spirit for online shoppers since March.

At the same time, the WSTA revealed that Brits bought a record-breaking 83 million bottles of gin last year worth over £2.6bn, with sales almost doubling in value in two years, according to previously unpublished Nielsen data showing sales for the year ending December 2019.

But although gin sales continued to grow last year, it was at a slower pace than in 2018, as drinkers spread their experimental wings and tried an ever greater array of spirits and cocktails, thanks in large part to continued innovation from British distillers, said the WSTA.

According to latest HMRC figures, the UK exported £672m worth of British gin in 2019, taking total gin sales, at home and abroad, to over £3.2bn.

“We knew that growth in the gin category would slow eventually, it was always inevitable given the incredible numbers we were seeing from 2016 onwards. We remain optimistic that British gin will continue to create a stir at home and abroad.

“Online demand for gin has outstripped all others in the spirit category during the lockdown of the last few months, and provided that SMEs can survive the ongoing economic uncertainty wrought by the coronavirus pandemic, it’s clear that gin’s success can be maintained at home and replicated abroad as our distillers look to export,” said Miles Beale, chief executive of the WSTA.

Gin data for the first three months of 2020 will be included the next WSTA Market Report in July.

The latest data comes head of World Gin Day on Sat (13 July).

At the beginning of this month, Fever-tree reported a strong performance for its premium mixers across the off-trade boosted by locked down Brits hitting gin.

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