Who's cutting back, who's crossing over, and why the no/low battle is won or lost at the shelf.
Picture a fairly ordinary weekend shop. A bottle of white for Friday night. A few cans of pre-mixed G&T for Saturday. And a four-pack of 0.0% lager for Sunday lunch, because you're the one driving home.
That single trolley is the headline of our latest study. In October we asked 500 UK shoppers, through the Field Agent app, what they buy, how their drinking is changing, and what happens when they get to the drinks aisle. Seven in ten (70%) buy both alcoholic and no/low drinks. Only 21% buy alcohol alone, and just 9% buy no/low alone.
So this isn't a story about alcohol versus alcohol-free. It's a story about one shopper moving between the two, we know that 70% + of Shoppers are deciding what to buy standing in front of the shelf.
Four in ten shoppers (40%) say they're drinking less alcohol than a year ago, against just 7% drinking more. Among those cutting back, health (57%) is more than twice as common as cost (25%).
"As I age, I seem to suffer from hangovers far worse, even if I only have a few drinks."
However, the cost of living is still biting. Over a third (36%) are spending less on alcohol than last year. Looking at how they're cutting back: 53% are simply buying less, 26% are buying smaller amounts or formats, and only 4% are trading down to cheaper brands. Shoppers are holding on to the brands they like and flexing the volume instead.
That shift shows up in the formats people pick. Four in five alcohol buyers (81%) have bought a smaller format in the last three months, with canned cocktails and RTDs leading the way (69%).
But here's the twist: they're not doing it to drink less. Convenience and portability (73%) is nearly three times as common a reason as controlling how much they drink (25%), and well ahead of managing spend (19%). Just over a quarter (28%) use a small pack to try something before committing to a full bottle.
RTDs have quietly gone mainstream, too. More than half of alcohol buyers (56%) drink RTD's, level with beer (55%).
The lesson for brands: sell smaller packs on convenience and occasion, not on moderation.
No/low is the mirror image of alcohol. 31% are drinking more of it than a year ago, against 19% drinking less. That growth is coming from people moderating (35%) and from better availability and range (28%)..
"More choice, more opportunities where 0 alcohol would be better like if I have to drive afterwards."
Spend is moving in the right direction as well. A no/low shopping trip is smaller (72% spend under £10, against 31% for alcohol), but 26% of no/low buyers are spending more than last year, double the 13% for alcohol.
What drives the choice is different, though:
And one big untapped occasion stands out: 71% buy alcohol as a gift, but only 17% buy no/low for gifting.
The big no/low brands are well known. Around six in ten no/low buyers are aware of Guinness 0.0, Kopparberg Alcohol Free and Heineken 0.0.
The gap opens between knowing a brand and trying it. Tanqueray 0.0 turns just 37% of its awareness into trial; Lucky Saint converts nearly 75%. Familiarity alone isn't getting product into baskets.
So what would? Lower prices (60%) and promotions (59%) top the list. But the next cluster is cheaper to act on with big potential : a trusted brand (45%), ready-to-drink options (37%), mocktail ideas (34%), having it chilled (34%) and in-store trial (29%).
To understand what levers are really working, you need to check out what is happening in store.
This is where the story comes together. Only 16% walk in already knowing which brand they'll pick.
Yet no/low starts every trip at a disadvantage. Two thirds (66%) say the alcoholic version of a drink is easier to find, against 11% who say the no/low version is. Almost a quarter (24%) found it difficult last time they looked, and 22% have found a no/low product in an aisle they didn't expect, most often among the soft drinks.
"Has been in soft drinks before, does make it harder to find if you have to look somewhere different in every shop."
Shoppers are clear about what they want instead. 63% expect no/low to have its own dedicated section, and many of them want it right beside the alcohol.
"I think they should be next to the alcohol but in their own section so you don't get easily confused and pick up the wrong one."
For retailers, the message is to plan the drinks aisle around one shopper, not two. With 70% buying both, no/low deserves its own clearly signposted bay right beside the alcohol, not scattered into soft drinks, where it's hardest to find and easiest to miss. Chilled availability (34%), mocktail ideas (34%) and in-store trial (29%) are relatively low-cost ways to turn browsers into buyers.
On the alcohol side, shoppers are cutting volume rather than trading down, so smaller formats and RTDs earn their space on convenience. And with only 17% buying no/low as a gift against 71% for alcohol, there's a clear gifting gap for retailers to fill, especially going into Christmas.
Follow the thread back through those findings. The promotion, the chilled fixture, the dedicated bay, the clear signposting, the 0.0 sitting next to its full-strength twin: almost every lever that moves no/low lives or dies at the shelf.
That isn't unique to drinks. Across the 1,500 in-store shopper studies Field Agent has run, an average of 70% of grocery shoppers decide what to buy at the fixture.
A sales report tells you what sold. It won't tell you that your 0.0 was in the soft drinks aisle in one store and missing from the chiller in the next. It won't tell you that the promotion you paid for never made it to the shelf edge, or that an open-minded shopper walked straight past because she couldn't see it. A survey tells you what shoppers intend; our in store Shopper research shows you what actually happens.
The questions worth asking are simple:
We can give you the answers. Our 220,000+ UK shoppers visit stores and report back in real time, with time-stamped, GPS-marked photos and video: whether your range is on shelf, where it sits, whether the promotion is live, and how shoppers react when they reach the fixture.
Moderation isn't shrinking the drinks aisle; it's rearranging it. The brands that win will be the ones who know what their shopper sees and stimulates purchase.
If you'd like the full report, including shopper verbatims, or want to see how your range is landing in store, drop an email to robin@fieldagent.co.uk and I'll send it over.