Retailers See Wine & Spirits as Vast Opportunity

The U.S. market is by far the largest consumer of wine in the world at an annual rate of 4.3 billion bottles. Total annual sales reportedly top $70 billion. The private label industry is capturing its own share of the market as a new generation of retailers from club stores to conventional supermarkets, drug chains, and discount grocery and convenience stores are seeing an opportunity and easy path to entry into the fast-growing category.

In response, PLMA will once again provide an exclusive Wine & Spirits Pavilion at the Private Label Trade Show where exhibitors from around the world can prominently showcase their wines, spirits, RTD cocktails and non-alcoholic beverages.

While new buyers are entering the wine category every day there are already many well established private label wine programs garnering consumer attention such as powerhouse wine merchant Costco (the country's largest seller with annual sales of nearly $2.5 billion) along with Aldi, Lidl, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, and the leading supermarket chains, among others.

There’s a whole new generation of wine aficionados, too. For example, surveys show GenZers are choosing wine as their number two favorite beverage choice  after soft drinks and retailers are seizing the opportunity to use compelling marketing to introduce them to delicious store brand wines that are attractively packaged and fit within their budget. The same can be said for Millennials.

In fact, the innovation and quality of today’s wines won the category a spot among the nearly 700 products evaluated in PLMA International’s Salute to Excellence Awards program.  This year, more than 100 private label wines were nominated, including 44 from U.S. retailers such as  Albertsons, Circle K and Spartan Nash.

Opportunity is also ripe for private label spirits with recent year over year unit sales gains reaching nearly 50% in 2023.  Kroger’s simple truth® brand vodka, Trader Joe’s Kentucky Bourbon Straight, and Costco's Kirkland brand featuring American and French vodka, Scotch, whiskey, bourbon, rum, tequila, and gin are just a few of the entries that are successfully appealing to shoppers. The popularity of Costco’s spirits even sparked a popular TikTok video favorably comparing its Kirkland brand to national brand counterparts.

RTD canned cocktails and hard seltzers that offer value and quality such as Target’s Casa Cantina RTD margaritas and pina coladas and Aldi’s Vista Bay Hard Seltzer are also popular. Trends in the category include craft-made liqueurs and exotic-infused spirits to satisfy the consumer’s desire for authenticity as well as the palate of GenZs.

Added to the mix, the health and wellness trend is crossing over from the traditional personal care department and becoming a key driver in the growing low/no-alcoholic drink category. From beers to spirits to cocktails, American consumers are increasingly turning to innovative, flavorful beverages that complement their lifestyle with a softer impact