Overchoice
In a recent op-ed about the future of money with the emergence of digital currencies, one economist states:
“It is a period of a great degree of concern about what happens to traditional forms of money and whether these technological developments we see around us are going to benefit us in some way or just create more disruption and turmoil.”
That’s pretty much how I feel about the thousands of new alcohol brands that keep launching year after year.
Personally, I don’t need 100 new Tequilas in my life right now, just like I don’t need 100 new ways to pay for my groceries. I also prefer to email, call, or text someone as a means of communication. If I have to check Instagram messages, Tweets, Facebook posts, Snapchat, and Whatsapp as well, at some point I start to wonder whether the digital age is improving my life or making it more difficult.
Which brings me back to booze.
Many new brand owners who speak to me off the record tell me the same thing: they’re here to disrupt, not add value. The goal is to take business away from another company and force an acquisition. Then they cash out and move on.
Meanwhile, consumer minds have been conditioned to keep searching for the shiny new object. If you’re wondering why your favorite whiskey brand continues to launch a Port finish, Madeira finish, Stout finish, Sherry finish, and apple brandy finish edition, it’s because flooding the market is the only strategy that seems to work right now.
Not just with consumers, but with retail buyers and bartenders as well.
Out of sight, out of mind is a real thing in the liquor business. What was exciting and new one week is completely forgotten the next. Retailers will push a product today, then move on to another new edition tomorrow. As a result, brands are forced to create dozens of versions of the same product, and roll those new editions out over the calendar year in order to maintain their relevance and the attention of their clients.
The takeaway for consumers is an endless selection of new products, few of which offer anything new or of quality. Which brings us back to the economist’s fear: that the development of endless new options could diminish the value of any single good option.
“Some economists believe there is a risk that we’ll some day find ourselves with nothing that is universally accepted as a medium of exchange,” the author warns.
My fear for the booze business is an entire store full of alcohol with nothing truly worth paying for.
-David Driscoll