Mobile apps ‘could boost beer and spirit sales’ in young adults

Mobile apps could provide “a novel way” of driving growth in alcoholic beverages by extending the concept of food pairings to drinks other than wine.

The latest research from Canadean has found that 35% of consumers worldwide see food pairing as a key consideration when choosing alcoholic drinks. But this behaviour is more prevalent among older adults than younger ones, as the figure rises to 43% of those aged 55 and over, but decreases to 26% for 18-24 year-olds. As such, social media and apps will be crucial tools in encouraging younger consumers to think about food and drink pairing more often, Canadean said.

Ronan Stafford, senior analyst for Canadean, explained: “Encouraging young adults to consider pairing alcohol with food will be a crucial way to grow volumes of wine, beer, and even some spirits. Brands need to use highly visual social media platforms, such as Instagram and Snapchat, and even beverage-dedicated apps, to demonstrate to young adults the exciting experiences offered by food and drink pairing.”

The recommendation falls on the back of increased usage of Snapchat – up from 8 billion videos a day in February to 10 billion in April.

Stafford continued: “Forget 140-character tweets – social media is now a visual medium. This should play into the hands of brands building around food and drink pairing: videos provide appealing ‘hero’ shots of the food and drink, help to explain the pairing thought process, and educate consumers.

“Brands should also consider consumer-dedicated mobile apps encouraging pairing, or targeting functionality like near-field communication (NFC) and augmented reality. For instance, Johnnie Walker launched an intelligent label with NFC technology, which could send food and drink pairing suggestions to shoppers’ phones.

“In addition, the recent success of Pokémon Go shows the potential for augmented reality, with apps featuring phone cameras to layer new pieces of information in front of what consumers can see. Dagschotel beer, from Brouwerij Martens in Belgium, already uses this technology, with characters on the beer labels coming to life when scanned by a phone.”