Alcohol sales have seen a decline in 2024 as consumers opt for healthier habits. Sebastien Derbomez, brand advocacy leader at William Grant & Sons, joined TheStreet to discuss the state of the industry.
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Full Video Transcript Below:
CONWAY GITTENS: I just want to get a general sense of the industry. Sales for the entire industry have been down for seven months. Yeah it looks like 2024 is going to be a down year. What’s happening. Is it just inflation where people are just like, hey it costs too much to drink or the GPL-1 drug’s making people not thirsty for glass. At the end of the day, what’s happening. Like, who would think that people like, out there drinking would be down?
SEBASTIEN DERBOMEZ: I know I don’t think a lot of people saw that coming, to be honest. But many of the reasons you mentioned, I think it’s a combination of all that at the back of the pandemic, I think people realized that they just wanted to drink less during the pandemic. People drunk, I mean, people stuck at home. And you’re like, man, and it’s a reality. But now people are out there boozy and they’re drunk they’re drinking less. It’s tough out there financially with the inflation and all that. The price went up. People are trying to be more healthy.
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And yeah, it’s been in general industry has been hard pre-mix it’s what kept the business afloat a little bit. And it’s also at the same time hurting spirit in general. So people pre-mixed cocktail, canned cocktail that’s still climbing, but in the detriment of the spirits itself. So people wanted that easy option. But for U.S. in particular, because we had the chance to have a premium product offering, it’s been OK because like I say, people would rather spend money on quality versus quantity. But yeah, it’s tough out there.
