READY TO GROW – OPPORTUNITIES FOR RTD COCKTAILS
Ready-to-drink cocktails have got all the ingredients for growth thanks to their versatility, affordability and portability.
‘RTD’ refers to any alcoholic drink and mixer sold pre-mixed and ready-to-drink. They can be still or carbonated and are usually fruit- or herb-flavoured with at least one base spirit and an ABV of 4-6%.
In the post-pandemic market, RTD alcoholic drinks have outperformed other categories, with sales value rising by 8.1% to £866m in 2022* and total sales volume growing by 15.5% in 2021*. RTD alcoholic drinks were enjoyed by around 37% of adults* in 2022, though typically more so the 18-34 age range (61%).
Familiar, versatile spirits tend to do best in RTD cocktails, with vodkas and gins making for instantly recognisable drinks, and growing numbers of rum-based RTDs being launched now too. Trends for tequilas and whiskey cocktails mean other spirits and even wine-based RTDs have a look-in too, though.
The category was a perfect accompaniment to 2022’s hot summer, suiting outdoor events thanks to the portability and affordability of canned RTDs. As people continue to socialise at home post-pandemic, larger format RTD cocktails could sustain this growth – allowing consumers to enjoy the same cocktails they created from scratch during lockdowns, with less hassle and the same price point.
However, like all categories, RTDs will feel the effects of the cost-of-living crisis squeezing household budgets. Pre-mixed cocktails could also be impacted by the UK’s ageing population and health-conscious drinkers preferring other categories or moderation*.
The category can remain appealing through affordability, quality of base ingredients and versatility of mixers, and lower ABVs, suiting wider health trends.
USING NATURAL INGREDIENTS
All-natural ingredients are a signaller of products that are premium, healthier, and more sustainable. Around one-third of adults see all-natural ingredients as a key characteristic of premium soft drinks**. Natural ingredients can give RTD cocktails the same appeal.
Premium brands have used assertions about all-natural ingredients to make premixed cocktails more permissible in the face of health and moderation trends, thanks to lower sugar or calorie contents.
Nohrlund launched a passion-fruit martini vodka cocktail in 2021 able to command premium prices thanks to its organic, “hand-crafted” ingredients. Similarly, Mavrik’s non-alcoholic RTDs, launched in 2021, focus on the full flavours offered by all natural ingredients, to match up to their alcohol-based counterparts.
FLAVOUR TREND – BERRIES & AROMATICS
Berries and aromatic botanicals are perfect for all-natural RTDs, offering fresh flavours and nutritional benefits.
Blends of berries and botanicals will create familiar but premium pre-mixed cocktails, for a range of on- or off-trade formats.
Try raspberry and pink rose in a wine-based spritzer for a canned cocktail, or for quick-serve options in on-trade try vodka with blueberry, lavender and a lemonade mixer or gin with a blackberry, mint and sage tonic.
EMBEDDING ETHICAL APPROACHES
Ethical approaches will also help the RTD cocktails market; particularly since 82% of people continue to spend on goods with ethical certifications, even when their
budgets are squeezed***.
A drink’s ethical credentials can come from the sourcing and sustainability of its ingredients, the messaging around recyclability of its packaging, or the values of the
brands behind the drinks.
Harvey Nichols uses Fair-trade certified liqueur in its own-brand Espresso Martini, for example. Discarded take a different approach to sustainable sourcing, using grapes surplus from wine-making for its chardonnay vodka, while Molson Coors donates 1% of its sales to support a charity improving access to clean drinking water.
FLAVOUR TREND – ORCHARD & STONED FRUITS
For sustainable pre-mixed cocktails, ingredients sourced from UK producers are ideal, such as orchard and stoned fruits. Pears, apples, cherries or plums will give fresh bases with low food miles. For stoned fruits from further afield, peaches and apricots will suit internationally inspired RTDs.
Try spiced pear with whiskey, or peach and jasmine through a fragrant gin.
EXPLORING PREMIUMISATION
Though price point is a key component of the RTD cocktails market, premiumisation has helped the category in recent years. Following the bad press that ‘alcopops’ attracted, premium products have helped RTDs to innovate and reinvent themselves.
Premium spirit brands have launched RTDs of their own, including Sipsmiths’ canned G&T’s and Grey Goose’s canned vodka spritzes. These offer the ‘lipstick effect’* by offering affordable luxury.
Similarly, understanding that 79% of drinkers want high quality mixers in their premixed alcoholic drinks*, Bloody Classic Bloody Mary promotes the quality and provenance of its ingredients – including UK-sourced piccolo tomatoes and genuine Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce.
FLAVOUR TREND – SMOKED & SPICES
Superior taste is one of the most important attributes for premium alcoholic drinks, according to 59%*of adults.
Using a key 2023 drinks trend, for flavours from smoked or spicy ingredients can create innovative, flavourful, and premium RTDs.
Try smoky chilli and lime through tequila or smoked cherry and spices with rum for adventurous and unusual RTDs, or toasted marshmallow and tonic with vodka for a fun, more accessible RTD.
TESTING NEW APPROACHES
While the core target market for pre-mixed alcoholic drinks is traditionally 18-34 years-old, new approaches are seeking to retain consumers as they mature. New launches of wine or wine-based drinks in single-serve cans have been intended to appeal to established RTD drinkers, rather than typical wine drinkers. Similarly, there are opportunities to attract consumers increasingly enjoying spritzers in the on-trade to RTD wine-based cocktails.
With the UK’s ageing population less likely to align with the pre-mixed alcoholic drinks market as is, diversification through premiumisation and new launches will be some of the best ways to maintain interest from a broad range of drinkers.
FLAVOUR TREND – SWEET SYRUPS FOR AROMATIC ESCAPISM
Sophisticated flavours for RTDs will appeal to more mature drinkers. Blends of florals and fruits can offer a little luxury or escapism through aromas and unusual flavours, while sweet syrups can create decadent drinks.
Try honeysuckle flavoured spritzer for a fragrant wine-based RTD, or for a nonalcoholic cocktail try honeyed apricot, apple and rosemary to emulate a sweet brandy.
NOT FORGETTING NOLO
Typically with ABVs of 4-6%, RTD cocktails are ready-made to work for the growing numbers of drinkers moderating their alcohol intake, without cutting out booze altogether.
Big brands are already appealing to the 41% of buyers who want to see more premium NoLo options~ by launching lower proof spirits.
Quarterproof’s, Smirnoff’s and Ballantines’ have each launched lower ABV gin, vodkas and whiskey, respectively, slashing the typical 40% ABV down to anywhere from 23% to 12%. Similarly, Gordon’s has launched an RTD version of its 0.0% spirit.
FLAVOUR TREND – SEASONAL FLAVOURS & FANTASY CREATIONS
For drinkers seeking all the flavour without the alcohol, non-alcoholic RTDs can use unusual, seasonal or festive flavours to elevate them from simpler soft drinks. Seasonal flavours like will give all the occasion of a typical cocktail, without relying on spirits for taste.
For wintery non-alcoholic RTDs, try a spiced clementine soda, or mulled plum and orange with cloves.
For fantasy-filled non-alcoholic RTDs drinks trends nostalgia and retro offer some inspiration. Try bubblegum and soda and enhance the drinking experience by lacing this with edible glitter to be shown off in a glass bottle.
SUB-CATEGORY SPOTLIGHT – HARD SELTZERS
Hard seltzers have helped growth across the RTD alcoholic drinks market. These RTDs have already disrupted the beer category in the US as a ‘better for you’, low calorie and ‘sessionable’ alternative, according White Claw~~. Now they’re steadily establishing and growing in the UK too, appealing to calorie-conscious drinkers as well as older consumers who typically prefer less-sweet options.
PRIORITISING POPULAR RECIPES
To match RTD cocktails low effort, high flavour appeal, the most popular and timeless cocktails tend to fare best for the category, such as Pina Coladas and Passionfruit Martinis.
RTDs recreating classic cocktails of old, such as a 1920’s Old Fashioned or Tom Collins, will appeal to older adults. While this demographic don’t typically choose RTDs, premixed alcoholic drinks recreating classic cocktails do appeal to one-in-five over 55s. Emerging trends have been quickly turned into RTD cocktail trends too. There have been growing numbers of RTD Whiskey Sour creations launched recently, in both single-serve cans and larger bottles.
And producers in Sweden and US moved quickly to create RTD Negroni Sbagliatos after House Of Dragon star Emma D’Arcy’s love of it went viral online. It’s only a matter of time before similar creations make it to the UK’s RTD cocktails market, to complement existing RTD Negronis on offer.
FLAVOUR TREND – BITTER & SOUR
As popular cocktails go, there’s little more synonymous with summer than a bittersweet, citrusy Aperol Spritz. It’s helped pave the way for the recent bitter and sour drinks trend, being used in cocktails and beers alike.
For new takes on this, fit for a premium pre-mixed cocktail, try rhubarb bitters with lemon and gin or a yuzu vodka.
USING FAMILIAR INGREDIENTS
Simpler creations of RTD cocktails will prove just as popular as multi-ingredient creations. Use of familiar spirits “simplifies the promise for consumers and clarifies the integrity of the product”, analysis by The Grocer found.
Familiarity helped big brands like Gordon’s, Jack Daniels and Captain Morgan to retain volume sales even as venues were closed during lockdowns, as drinkers turned to RTDs of their favourite spirits.
FLAVOUR TREND – CITRUS
For familiar and ever-popular flavours, citrus creations are ideal. Working well alone or enhanced with botanicals, citruses from simple orange or lemon to trendy blood orange and grapefruit will create crowd-pleaser pre-mixed cocktails.
These can be elevated with additions like rosemary or black pepper or through the use of less-common fruits like mandarin.
Try grapefruit and lemon for a trendy tequila, or pink grapefruit with peppercorn for a fiery vodka.
VARYING USAGE AND SERVING SUGGESTIONS
RTD alcoholic drinks are most commonly associated with out-of-home socialising*, complementing outdoor celebrations in summer, for example. However, there is plenty of scope to promote RTDs for at home, as a convenient and cheaper way to relax and socialise; building on the 44% of RTD drinkers who already enjoy premixed alcoholic drinks when relaxing at home*.
A quarter of RTD’s readymade target market are interested in cocktail-making kits*, as a solution to not having the spare cash or storage space to buy a range of full-size spirits and mixers. This could extend to creating pre mixed cocktails to complement meal kits from delivery services like Hello Fresh.
Gifting is another way to increase value sales of RTDs, creating limited edition or seasonal products to emulate the way white spirits have supported sales in recent years*. To reach older drinkers in this way, M&S created a pre-mixed mimosa for Mother’s Day in 2021 – the ‘Mum-osa’.
READY TO INNOVATE?
Simpsons are experts in developing and producing flavours for RTDs. To bring your next project to life, speak to our team for guidance, insights and ideas.
*Mintel – White Spirits & RTDs, UK 2022
**Mintel – Attitudes towards Premium Soft Drinks, incl Impact of Covid-19, UK 2020
***Mintel – White Spirits & RTDs, UK 2022 / The Ethical Food Consumer, UK 2021
~Mintel – Attitudes towards Premium Alcoholic Drinks, UK 2022
~~As reported by The Grocer
