While you know that everyone is shifting to the online model of selling items such as essential as well as non-essential commodities, there is also one category which we don’t know if it should be categorized in the essential or non-essential commodity. We are talking about retail wine and liquor shops who are also hit hard by the lockdown imposed due to COVID-19 all over the world.
It is also known that people want their alcohol supplies at any cost even if it is dangerous for their health. Even in this lockdown situation, we have seen reports where people have either stocked up on liquor or are demanding to open shops for selling them as there is demand.
Now, this is something which we did not predict to be happening due to online e-commerce growth but it has happened because now alcohol is also being sold online. Like everyone else, retail wine shop owners are also coming online to sell their stocks which people are ready to buy at any cost as well.
Having said that, “Small wineries dependent on tasting room sales are reeling as their customers are ordered to stay home” as per Forbes’ report. A major wine shop owner says that “The wine retail market has been surprisingly resilient,”
Interestingly, one of the US’ biggest wine shop owners says that he has gone through both the 9/11 as well as the great recession and on both occasions, the sales of wine dropped but for a temporary period. However, he is seeing that sales of wine during COVID-19 are actually compared to a normal period.
Now, this also has to do with the fact that there are many reports saying alcohol is helping reduce the effect of COVID-19 and people are blindly believing those unconfirmed reports to start drinking alcohol even if they were not doing so previously.
