Specialist
Executive at Wine & Spirit Wholesalers of America
Agenda
- Volume trends in big label manufacturers, liquor preference changes and demand for liquor and wine across price levels
- Cost changes and distributor impact
- Competitive drivers and industry consolidation
- Technological improvements and warehouse automation
Questions
1.
What should we pay attention to in the US spirits sector? What headwinds and tailwinds are there, and what are your expectations?
2.
How has consumer behaviour changed, and what does that mean for spirits and wine?
3.
You mentioned wine is probably most exposed to the seltzer trends. Are any spirits categories overexposed or underexposed? Would you expect more of a depletion in one spirit vs another with the rise or fall of seltzers?
4.
What are your growth expectations for wine over the intermediate term, and what’s pushed them up or down?
5.
You mentioned regulation processes shifting and changing. What does this mean for distributors, manufacturers, and the rest of the industry?
6.
What does e-commerce evolution mean for categories and customer preference?
7.
What are your growth expectations for bourbon? What are your thoughts on the continuation of its current growth rates? What will it take to maintain that? Is it completely organic or is it being pushed a bit?
8.
How do you think craft spirits as a category are faring? Are they growing organically or taking market share from incumbents?
9.
Craft beer has stagnated and fallen out with respect to growth. Do you think the same will happen to spirits, will it not really get any larger once it hits critical mass?
10.
What are your thoughts on the major share-gaining categories? Which categories are losing share?
11.
What are your thoughts on wine and its market share? Categorical Breakdown?
12.
What are your thoughts on wine producers attempting to cut out distributors and go directly to the end consumer? What do you think of the progress here? Do you expect this to gain traction and become a larger part of the industry?
13.
You mentioned Sober October and no-drink January. What’s the risk of consumers continuing to drink less, do they make up for it in other months? What’s the risk here and what are the implications?
14.
What are your thoughts on Treasury Wines and its change to a more direct route to market? What is Treasury Wines doing?
15.
How have the relationships and bargaining power between spirit manufacturers and distributors evolved? What does this mean if there’s movement towards DTC?
16.
How is the mix of on-trade, off-trade, on-premise, off-premise trending? Who is best exposed, who less so?
17.
How might premiumisation affect the average selling price on a per-category basis? How might that relate to volume impact?
18.
How intense is competition between major spirit brands or categories now vs historically?
19.
Do you have any insight on the newer brands and spirits coming into the market? What are the barriers to entry for the spirit category? Are there any sleeper brands that could be the next Tito’s that could roll out to a national level?
20.
What are your thoughts on pricing power in the industry over the next 5-10 years? How might it evolve and what does it mean for the players involved?
21.
Is there anything we haven’t touched on that you think is worth bringing up?
22.
What are your thoughts on distributors’ exposure to labour costs? Are there other inflationary costs?
23.
Do you have any closing comments or is there anything to reiterate?
