People are slowly beginning to feel more confident that the worst of the pandemic is behind them. While 40% of adults said that they are still concerned about exposure to the virus in research run from 27 May-7 June, this is the lowest figure since Mintel’s first wave of COVID-19 research in February/March 2020.

Although consumer concerns around COVID-19 are beginning to show signs of decline, there will be a continued drive towards health and wellbeing. In the short term this will continue to be related to building immunity, but over the longer term the focus will become more general. Helping consumers to manage their health through the addition of vitamins and minerals and the removal of unwanted components such as sugar and calories will resonate with more health-conscious consumers.

The biggest threat facing drinks brands is a consumer willingness to trade down to cheaper, own-label alternatives. During the pandemic consumers have become more budget-conscious, so it will be a challenge for brands to encourage shoppers to bring back pre-pandemic behaviours, such as impulse purchase. Brands can utilise emotion-based marketing focusing on taste to help entice consumers to make these decisions.

The alcohol moderation trend will provide opportunities for brands to introduce low-alcohol variants, but will also provide impetus for premium brands to move into the space previously occupied by alcohol. Brands like Fentimans, Fever-Tree, Belvoir and Bottlegreen can seek to build engagement through replicating the taste, theatre andsocial elements of alcohol drinking occasions.

Key issues covered in this ReportReport

  • The impact of COVID-19 on consumer behaviour and how it will influence what consumers are looking for from brands.

  • How leading drinks brands score on metrics like usage, trust, satisfaction, likely recommendation and perceived differentiation.

  • The top-scoring brands for particular personality traits, including innovation, value, quality, ethics and taste.

COVID-19: Market context

The first COVID-19 cases were confirmed in the UK at the end of January 2020, with a small number of cases in February. Rapidly rising case numbers led to the first national lockdown, starting on 23 March. It wasn't until 15 June that non-essential stores were allowed to reopen, followed by pubs, restaurants, hotels and hairdressers on 4 July and many beauty businesses on 13 July.

By September, it had become clear that the UK was at the start of a second wave, and social distancing measures were intensified. Continued increases in infection numbers led to Wales implementing a two-week national lockdown from 19 October, England announcing a month-long lockdown from 5 November and Scotland introducing a new five-level system of coronavirus restrictions.

Despite these restrictions, however, case numbers continued to increase. All four UK nations tightened restrictions further in January 2021, effectively leading to a full UK-wide lockdown.

On 22 February, Boris Johnson announced the roadmap to an easing of restrictions in England, starting with the reopening of schools on 8 March, with restrictions on outdoor gatherings easing on 29 March and indoor gatherings resuming on 17 May. The original plan to end all restrictions by 21 June has been delayed until 19 July due to concerns around the spread of the Delta COVID variant. The Welsh and Scottish governments also gave more details on their plans to ease restrictions, with both nations taking a slightly more cautious approach to the one planned for England.

The UK’s vaccination programme started on 8 December 2020, with the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines licensed for use in the UK. As of 22 June 2021, the government-reported figures show that 31.4 million people have received both doses of the COVID-19/coronavirus vaccine.

Economic and other assumptions

Mintel’s economic assumptions are based on the Office for Budget Responsibility’s central scenario included in its March 2021 Economic and Fiscal Outlook report. After the fall of 9.9% over the course of 2020, the scenario suggests that UK GDP will grow by 4% in 2021 and 7.3% in 2022.

GDP isn’t expected to return to pre-COVID-19 levels until Q2 2022, although this is six months earlier than the OBR forecast in November 2020, mainly because of the faster-than-expected rollout of vaccines.

Unemployment is expected to peak at 6.5% in Q4 2021. As with GDP, this is more positive than the OBR’s November forecast, but the OBR does raise the prospect of long-term scarring on employment, especially in the more exposed retail and hospitality sectors.

Products covered in this Report

Since April 2018, Mintel has conducted brand research on over 80 brands operating in drinks markets. As well as consumers’ attitudes towards brands, we investigate how many people have used those brands, how positive their experience of the brand was and whether they would recommend that brand.

Research is run at a brand level, rather than based on a particular product. So rather than asking specifically about people’s perception of Tropicana’s orange juice or of Bacardi’s white rum, for example, we ask about their overall perception of the Tropicana and Bacardi brands.

Data in this Report is drawn from fieldwork conducted between October 2017 and April 2020. Many brands have been covered on multiple occasions and, unless otherwise stated, Mintel’s data refers to the most recent wave of research in which a given brand featured. Please refer to the Report Appendix for details of the Reports from which the brand data has been taken.

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