2023 Direct-to-Consumer Beer Shipping Report

2023 Direct-to-Consumer Beer Shipping Report

The third annual Direct-to-Consumer (DtC) Beer Shipping Report, presented by Sovos ShipCompliant and the Brewers Association, finds that consumer interest and enthusiasm for having their favorite brews shipped to their front doors has continued to grow. The report offers an in-depth analysis of a consumer poll and an economist’s review of the DtC beer shipping market.

The Sovos ShipCompliant/Harris Poll consumer survey finds that state laws are not keeping up with consumer demand. Nearly eight out of 10 (81%) regular craft beer drinkers have tried a beer while traveling that they wish they could purchase but it’s not available near their home. Additionally, 88% say there should be greater legal access to DtC beer shipping. However, as of March 2023, just 11 states and Washington, D.C. currently permit DtC beer shipping. (Regular craft beer drinkers are defined as those who drink craft beer at least once per month.) 

Read the 2023 Direct-to-Consumer Beer Shipping Report now:

Missed revenue for states and craft brewers

The potential market scope for DtC beer has yet to reach its peak, but the numbers show that consumers are willing to spend the money for craft beer to be shipped directly to their residence. In fact, 72% of regular craft beer drinkers report they would spend $50 or more per month if they could, while 51% say they would spend $100 or more per month. 

The survey revealed the following key takeaways:

  • DtC demand is growing. While regulation in the beer industry continues to hinder DtC growth, consumer intent and desire to make such purchases is on the rise. The want to purchase craft beer DtC has increased among regular craft beer drinkers from 54% in 2022 to 61% in 2023.  
  • Increased interest for out-of-state brews. The majority of regular craft beer drinkers (79%) are likely to purchase craft beer via DtC shipping in the future, an increase from the 75% who said they would do so in 2022.  
  • DtC shipping can lead to increased sales. Hear it straight from the source: 85% of regular craft beer drinkers say they would be likely to try a brewery’s latest beer if there were a DtC shipping option, with 82% saying they would be more likely to purchase more frequently from that brewery. 

The Direct-to-Consumer Beer Shipping Report also profiles DtC craft beer drinker demographics. Download your complimentary copy of the report today for an in-depth look at the consumer and producer sides of this emerging market. 

*THIS SURVEY WAS CONDUCTED ONLINE WITHIN THE UNITED STATES BY THE HARRIS POLL ON BEHALF OF SOVOS SHIPCOMPLIANT FROM JANUARY 3-5, 2023 AMONG 756 U.S. ADULTS AGES 21 AND OLDER, AMONG WHOM 568 DRINK CRAFT BEER AT LEAST ONCE PER MONTH. THE SAMPLING PRECISION OF HARRIS ONLINE POLLS IS MEASURED BY USING A BAYESIAN CREDIBLE INTERVAL. FOR THIS STUDY, THE SAMPLE DATA IS ACCURATE TO WITHING +/- 4.2 PERCENTAGE POINTS USING A 95% CONFIDENCE LEVEL. FOR COMPLETE SURVEY METHODOLOGY, INCLUDING WEIGHTING VARIABLES AND SUBGROUP SAMPLE SIZES, PLEASE CONTACT SOVOS SHIPCOMPLIANT AT HELLOSHIP@SOVOS.COM. 

A Buyer’s Guide to DtC Alcohol Shipping Compliance Software

Choosing the right solution for your business

Introduction

With rising ecommerce demands and more people than ever before working remotely, direct-to-consumer (DtC) shipping of beverage alcohol has also grown in popularity. Consumers have become accustomed to being able to have their favorite wines, beers and spirits shipped directly to their front door. Producers, shippers and retailers are all working toward maintaining DtC compliance, but it’s hardly an intuitive process, especially as businesses grow and regulatory landscapes change. 

Whether you’re a large-scale winery expanding into new states, or a small-scale distillery growing its product line, you’ve come to the realization that maintaining DtC shipping compliance is no easy feat. You understand what you need to do, but perhaps aren’t sure the best way to go about doing it. Is investing in DtC shipping compliance software even necessary? 

Not making that investment could cost your organization time and money—especially if you are shipping to more than a couple of states or to states with complex rules and reporting requirements. Maybe you have one employee dedicating days every single month to trying to account for all state requirements. What happens if you catch a mistake? Do you ship the product out, knowing you’ll get fined after the fact? Or do you delay the shipment, leading to unhappy customers? 

The cost of “doing nothing” can be immense, which is why we’ve outlined how to find the right DtC alcohol shipping compliance software. 

DtC shipping laws vary from state to state, meaning that producers need to keep current on how much they are shipping (to manage against customer aggregate volume limits), to whom (i.e., do you have age verification measures? Are you avoiding shipping to dry counties?) and ensuring the appropriate taxes are determined, collected and submitted. Additionally, the regulations vary by product—just because a state allows DtC wine shipping, does not guarantee that it allows DtC beer shipping, for example. 

Non-compliance can lead to: 

  • Cease and desist letters 
  • Fines and/or monetary penalties 
  • Revoked/non-renewed licenses

•  If you lose one license, it could affect others, including a production license 

Whether you’re a producer, shipper or retailer, it’s critical to know where you’re shipping. From there, understanding—and adhering to—those destination states’ regulations is necessary. But as companies expand into new territories, grow their product lines or scale their business in another way, it’s not always easy to keep tabs on what’s required. That is where DtC alcohol shipping compliance software can be beneficial. 

Most DtC shippers end up deciding between sticking to manual processes or utilizing compliance software. Here’s a look at how the two approaches compare, and what to look for if you decide to adopt compliance software. 

 

Manual processes 

  • How are new laws found and tracked?

Usually one employee, or a small team, is tasked with keeping pace with the latest regulations. Tracking might take place in binders, notebooks or a series of unwieldy spreadsheets that may or may not allow for multiple-employee access. 

  • What is the license, product registration and renewals process?

Employees are responsible for keeping track of which states different products are registered in, what the current fees and required paperwork are, and when critical renewal deadlines are coming up. If renewals for licenses and/or products are missed, you will be unable to sell into that particular state. 

  • How long is setup/implementation?

There is no real “implementation” process, but employee training when there is turnover or an outage could take time, depending on how much manual work is required. 

  • How are compliance checks handled?

Manually, often after the sale rather than in real-time, or—most riskily—not at all. 

  • What is the process for determining, reporting and remitting taxes?

This likely falls to one employee, or a small team for hours of cumbersome paperwork. With such variation in tax rates by state and even municipality, and how taxes are often applied differently for alcohol versus general merchandise, the opportunity for error is high. 

  • What is the employee burden?

Depending on the number of states a business ships into and how many products must be accounted for, the burden could be very heavy. Employees may be required to devote up to several days per month toward compliance. Of course, some companies outsource all of these tasks to consultants or similar providers—for a fee, which can often exceed the cost of an automated software solution on an ongoing basis. 

DtC alcohol shipping compliance software 

  • How are new laws found and tracked?

Rule and regulation updates at all levels (federal, state, other jurisdictions such as county) are kept up to date by a team of regulatory experts. 

  • What is the license, product registration and renewals process? 

A centralized database, visible to all team members, houses all state licensing and federal and state product registration information. The system can send proactive renewal reminders starting months in advance of the renewal deadline, to allow plenty of time for taking action. Renewal and registration requirements are kept up to date at all times by a team of regulatory experts. 

  • How long is setup/implementation? 

Ideally, the DtC shipping compliance software implementation process should have your organization up and running in a matter of weeks so that you can quickly gain value from using the software. Look for a solution that offers a dedicated implementation team who will help guide you through account set up and use. 

  • How are compliance checks handled? 

Automatically and in real time at the point of sale via integration with your ecommerce platform. In some cases, non-compliant orders maybe be flagged for adjustment or cancellation before a customer completes an order. Otherwise, orders should be quarantined for review and action by the team so that no risky non-compliant orders are completed. 

  • What is the process for determining, reporting and remitting taxes?

Again, look for automated, real-time tax determination that is both alcohol-specific and as granular as the rooftop level, as in some jurisdictions, tax rates can vary from one side of the street to the other. 

  • What is the employee burden?

While managing compliance and reporting still requires employee time and attention, expect to save hours—possibly days—per month on compliance and reporting work. Expect employees to experience greater job satisfaction in working with a streamlined, modern compliance solution versus inefficient and time-consuming manual processes that are subject to human error. 

Review your internal processes to determine what the best, most reliable option will be for your business. Remember to account for any future growth plans as well—a single employee handling compliance may work for operating in one territory, but expanding beyond that could become time-consuming, more difficult to maintain and more prone to human error. 

Great ideas can come to life when even one person has the will to help make them possible. Ensure that you have buy-in from internal stakeholders and budget authority to make an investment in DtC shipping compliance software a reality. 

Keep these questions in mind when accounting for budget and buy-in: 

Budget 

  • Is the timing right?

Make sure your business isn’t compromising key objectives—the timing may never be perfect, but working with the right partner can mean reaping time-saving benefits within the first month of implementation. 

  • What are we spending now?

Remember that the cost of doing nothing could outweigh the initial upfront costs of DtC shipping compliance software. The cost of a solution could quickly be recouped from avoiding fines and having employees gain time back to refocus on other key business initiatives that will drive additional revenue. 

  • What will the overall cost be?

The right partner works with your budget and can scale with you as your business grows. Different companies have different needs, and the right DtC shipping compliance software can meet requirements at all levels of production. Tiered pricing options that evolve with the scope of your business are often a good fit. 

 

Buy-in

  • Who needs to be on board?

Your team should understand how the right solution can reduce risk, centralize processes and help gain efficiency. Even one key person acting as a liaison and project champion can create ongoing success. 

  • What are key concerns?

Look for a solution provider that offers a dedicated implementation team, unlimited free support from experts and continued education on the software, all of which can help ensure that utilizing a new solution is seamless from implementation and beyond. 

Conclusion: Why Sovos ShipCompliant? 

Working with a trusted industry partner can help ensure that your business stays current and compliant in all DtC processes, including license management, production requirements and tax determination and reporting. Utilizing a centralized cloud-based platform that is integrated with major DtC ecommerce, point-of-sale and fulfillment systems, you can rest assured that you’re mitigating risk by staying compliant. 

Additionally, the right partner has an implementation process that gets your organization online in weeks—not months. A dedicated implementation team can also ensure you know the necessary information to set up your account, while also letting you have visibility into the compliance process. 

“We decided to go with ShipCompliant thanks to the integrations it has with our fulfillment partner, allowing us to automatically pass orders from our website through ShipCompliant, to our warehouse, which then fulfills and ships the orders. We could also receive the tracking information back through ShipCompliant, making the process much easier for all parties and bringing a level of automation we did not have previously.”

Vegan Wines

“We absolutely fell in love with the idea of how [ShipCompliant] managed the DtC compliance process. Then we found software that would work with it, not the other way around. We were up and running within a month and humming along just perfectly normal within a quarter. ShipCompliant makes it possible to do our job and we can trust that [their] information is accurate. You just can’t put a price on customer satisfaction and peace of mind.”

Moshin Vineyards

“ShipCompliant is an indispensable tool for our company. As a growing business, we recognized early on the need for an all-inclusive compliance software system. ShipCompliant not only met these needs but exceeded expectations by adding the DtC module. DtC is a great way to build our brand following and the integration was seamless.”

Sovos ShipCompliant can help in the compliance process, allowing you to experience fully compliant, accurate and seamless DtC shipping management.

Learn How

Keep Pace with Changing Requirements in the Beer Industry with Sovos ShipCompliant

Introduction

Breweries of all sizes are aware of the rapidly changing regulatory requirements for both three-tier and direct-to-consumer (DtC) shipping channels. Expanding product lines, moving distribution into new territories and accounting for all federal and state laws can put extra pressure on the organization. What does it take to maintain compliance without compromising other aspects of your brewery’s business? 

Here are real-world examples of how Sovos ShipCompliant can help those in the brewing industry get a handle on compliance. 

 

“Despite the patchwork and difficult landscape of malt beverage compliance, our team at Sovos ShipCompliant has gone above and beyond to ensure a smooth, functional, effective solution for managing filings, registrations, and compliance. We’re grateful for the time savings associated with managing disparate state laws and policies, as well as the peace of mind it offers.”

Use case #1: Brewery Automates Manual Processes & Centralizes Compliance 

Colorado-based Left Hand Brewing Co. struggled with scaling issues as it entered into new states, with employees manually completing all paperwork. The tedious and time-consuming process raised the risk of missing deadlines and overwhelmed the staff. Additionally, Left Hand had limited visibility into specific state compliance requirements, pushing employees to guess on numerous issues. 

The Sovos ShipCompliant Market Ready solution helped remove guesswork from Left Hand’s compliance efforts, while also automating the manual processes necessitated by mountains of paperwork. Compliance was centralized into a single platform, ensuring accuracy and providing peace of mind. The brewery can now expand into new regions faster than before and ensure that its product is on shelves when expected.  

“We’ve grown too much to let guesswork lead us to the next step. [ShipCompliant] helped us in that regard [with] a centralized point where everything lives. It’s as easy as the push of a button to get all of our paperwork done.” -Director of Accounting & Administration at Left Hand Brewing

Use case #2: Improved Registration Process Helps Brewery Focus on Biz Development 

Uinta Brewing had manual processes in place for maintaining compliance and conducting state product registrations. This inefficiency put extra pressure on employees and prevented them from being able to properly focus on other business priorities. 

With Sovos ShipCompliant 3-Tier Reporting and Market Ready solutions, Uinta has one platform where it can get answers on state requirements, register a product and keep track of licenses and documents. This helps the brewery save time and reduce the risk of errors. 

Uinta Brewing now has a “one-stop shop for regulatory compliance,” according to its director of regulatory compliance. Employees reduced their time spent on compliance from weeks to days and eliminated the risk of getting stuck on small regulatory issues. The brewery can get products to the market and in the hands of their customers faster. 

“It comes down to confidence—knowing that we can go to one place and get answers on state details and state requirements, and then in that same platform be able to actually register a product and keep track of licenses and other documentation. It's the Swiss Army knife of regulatory compliance.”

Director of Regulatory Compliance

Uinta Brewing

What Sovos ShipCompliant can do for you

Direct

  • Real-time compliance checks against more than 1,000 state rules and regulations
  • Rooftop-level, alcohol-specific tax determination 
  • Streamlined reporting 
  • Integrations with all major DtC e-commerce, point-of-sale and fulfillment systems 

Market Ready

  • Streamlined state product and brand label registrations 
  • Integrated directly with 10+ government systems, including the TTB 
  • Increased visibility with insight into ETAs for federal and state registration approvals 
  • A central repository for all brand compliance data, state requirements and forms, and license renewal deadlines 

Want to learn more? Contact our team to find out how Sovos ShipCompliant can help.

Maintain Compliance in the Ever-Evolving Wine Market with Sovos ShipCompliant

Introduction

Whether you’re a large-scale winery looking to start a wine club or subscription service, or you’re a small vineyard that needs to improve its approach to wholesale compliance, regulations and requirements can quickly change. How can you maintain compliance without losing sight of other key business initiatives? 

Here are real-world examples of how Sovos ShipCompliant can help those in the wine space get a handle on compliance. 

Use case #1: Online Wine Club Saves Money on Reporting, License Management 

Vegan Wines is a subscription-based club and online wine club that ships to 38 states. The startup did not have the staff to dedicate ample time to track and manage compliance for every order. The team spent large amounts of time processing online and wine club orders through the system, used spreadsheets and manual data entry to check compliance and then individually forwarded the information on to their fulfillment partner. 

Sovos ShipCompliant Direct helps manage shipping compliance, taxes and licenses through one solution. Direct assists with streamlining the reporting process, reduces the risk of errors and incorrect reporting, and keeps all licensing information in one place. 

Vegan Wines saves about $10,000 per year, or about 10 minutes per order, by using Direct.  

“We decided to go with ShipCompliant thanks to the integrations it has with our fulfillment partner, allowing us to automatically pass orders from our website through ShipCompliant, to our warehouse, which then fulfills and ships the orders. We could also receive the tracking information back through ShipCompliant, making the process much easier for all parties and bringing a level of automation we did not have previously.”

Use case #2: Winery Eliminates Manual Reporting & Improves Customer Experience 

Family-owned and operated winery Moshin Vineyards produces approximately 10,000 cases annually with 50/50 direct-to-consumer and three-tier distribution. It was replicating state reporting forms in spreadsheets, manually transferring data from hard copies and then submitting forms at the end of each month. Employees had to know each state’s individual rules, looking up changes as they occurred. 

ShipCompliant Direct offers a comprehensive resource for state regulatory information. Moshin receives automatic notifications on state reporting due dates, license expirations and custom customer shipping email notices, ensuring customers get their packages. 

Moshin saves over 50 hours a month on checking compliance and knows that its team will be quickly informed of any compliance issues, eliminating shipping problems.  

“We absolutely fell in love with the idea of how [ShipCompliant] managed the DtC compliance process. Then we found software that would work with it, not the other way around. We were up and running within a month and humming along just perfectly normal within a quarter. ShipCompliant makes it possible to do our job and we can trust that [their] information is accurate. You just can’t put a price on customer satisfaction and peace of mind.”

Use case #3: Importer & Wholesaler Streamlines Compliance 

California-based importer and wholesaler Martine’s Wines needed better structure and efficiency for its compliance processes. A lack of a reliable system made it difficult to know when a state license might need a renewal, when to provide notice for when products were registered to state distributors, or when to inform clients on state license and shipping law requirements—which are often in flux. 

The Sovos ShipCompliant 3-Tier Reporting and Market Ready solutions helped Martine’s Wines gain greater visibility into the business with regulatory compliance, license management and automated registrations. The products provided a centralized database, shortened the time to market for new products and better empowered employees to bring the focus back to core business priorities. 

“Having these compliance-related resources at my fingertips gives us better peace of mind that our business is following the rules because anything can be looked up in a matter of seconds.”

Vice President

Martine’s Wines

 

What Sovos ShipCompliant can do for you

Direct

  • Real-time compliance checks against more than 1,000 state rules and regulations
  • Rooftop-level, alcohol-specific tax determination 
  • Streamlined reporting 
  • Integrations with all major DtC e-commerce, point-of-sale and fulfillment systems 

Market Ready

  • Streamlined state product and brand label registrations 
  • Integrated directly with 10+ government systems, including the TTB 
  • Increased visibility with insight into ETAs for federal and state registration approvals 
  • A central repository for all brand compliance data, state requirements and forms, and license renewal deadlines 

Want to learn more? Contact our team to find out how Sovos ShipCompliant can help.

dtc-wine-report-2021

2022 Direct-to-Consumer Spirits Shipping Report

The first annual Direct-to-Consumer (DtC) Spirits Shipping Report, presented by Sovos ShipCompliant and the American Craft Spirits Association (ACSA), finds that consumers want their favorite spirits shipped to their front doors, and would order on a regular basis if it were more widely available. The report offers an in-depth analysis of a consumer poll and ACSA’s take on the opportunities for the direct-to-consumer spirits sales market.

The Sovos ShipCompliant/Harris Poll consumer survey finds that 80% of regular craft spirits drinkers would purchase spirits DtC monthly if permitted in their state—yet spirits DtC interstate shipping is only currently available in eight states and Washington, D.C. The potential of this mostly untapped market is huge. (Regular craft spirits drinkers are defined as those who drink craft spirits at least once per month.) 

Get the report now:

Direct-to-Consumer Spirits Shipping in 2022

Craft spirits producers can capitalize on consumer wishes

The survey revealed the following key takeaways:

  • A limited but (slowly) growing marketplace. Even with broad interest for DtC liquor shipping of spirits, state legislators are hesitant to make changes to enable these types of sales. Some states continue to limit spirits shipping, while others are moving forward. For example, Maine failed to enact legislation to move DtC liquor shipping forward but Vermont liberalized the rules for selling spirits-based ready-to-drink (RTD) beverages.  
  • We want spirits, yes, we do. Nearly half (46%) of regular craft spirits drinkers want craft spirits shipped directly to them via a third-party carrier, which is almost on par with the 49% that would like beer shipped direct to their home or someone else’s. 
  • An opportunity lost. With only nine U.S. locales—eight states and Washington, D.C.—allowing interstate DtC spirits shipping, there is clearly an underserved market for direct-to-consumer alcohol sales. Just under half of regular craft spirits drinkers who are likely to purchase craft spirits DtC say they would spend, on average, $108 a month. 

The Direct-to-Consumer Spirits Shipping Report also profiles DtC craft spirits drinker demographics. Download your complimentary copy of the report today for an in-depth look at the consumer and producer sides of this emerging market. 

*These surveys were conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of Sovos ShipCompliant between October 20-25, 2022 among 1,958 adults ages 21+, among whom 618 drink craft spirits/liquor at least once per month, and October 27-31, 2022 among 1,942 adults ages 21+, among whom 588 drink craft spirits/liquor at least once per month. For complete survey methodologies, including weighting variables and subgroup sample sizes, please contact helloship@sovos.com. 

dtc-wine-report-2023

2023 DtC Wine Shipping Report

The Direct-to-Consumer Wine Shipping Report is an annual collaboration between Sovos ShipCompliant and Wines Vines Analytics. It contains the most accurate representation of the American direct-to-consumer (DtC) wine shipping channel and provides the latest information on growth trends, changes in price per bottle shipped, regional demand, varietal trends and more. Download your complimentary copy here.

The 2022 year in review shows a channel experiencing something of a market correction, with a first-ever decline in both the volume and value of DtC wine shipments. At the same time, and for the second year in a row, average bottle price increased significantly—seemingly beyond correcting for the price drop seen in the 2020 pandemic-influenced market. The 2023 Direct-to-Consumer Wine Shipping Report explores these outcomes, looking at the impacts of the COVID-19 market roller coaster in 2020 and 2021, along with the effects of inflation and higher costs of living and doing business in 2022.

Report Highlights

What does the 2023 Direct-to-Consumer Wine Shipping Report include?

This comprehensive report takes a look at DtC wine shipping data across a number of key areas:

  • Total market value and composition by winery size
  • Volume growth
  • Month-by-month analysis of winery DtC shipments
  • Regional analysis spanning all parts of the United States
  • Analysis of shipments by winery size (production amounts)
  • Analysis by varietal
  • Analysis by destination of shipments
  • Changes in average price per bottle
  • Commentary, insights and forecasts for the year ahead

How is the report created?

The Wines Vines Analytics team created an algorithm that uses a database of more than 11,000 U.S. wineries to extrapolate all DtC shipments from millions of anonymous transactions filtered through the Sovos ShipCompliant system in 2021. The model tracks DtC wine sales by winery region, annual winery production, destination of shipments, wine type (varietal) and price points.

Each DtC shipment is edited for submission for governmental tax and reporting requirements, and certain elements such as varietal are validated by standardized tables. The data is submitted to a proprietary model that applies weighting to assure that aggregated transactions evenly reflect winery size, location and average bottle price. This database is a near census of U.S. wineries (>99%). The model incorporates recognized statistical techniques to identify outliers and data anomalies.

Why download the 2023 DtC Wine Shipping Report?

U.S. wine producers will find this report invaluable in informing data-based decisions for their businesses. For example:

  • Identify top shipment destination states to bolster planning for expansion into new ship-to states.
  • Understand what the evolving DtC wine shipping consumer base is looking for in terms of varietals, price thresholds and more.
  • Evaluate pricing and product mix in the DtC channel going forward.

Looking for more insights and analysis?

Download the full report