Vodka is the most popular and frequently consumed spirit amongst adults living in Ireland.
However, almost half (45%) of current vodka drinkers claim they have decreased the number of times they have drunk vodka over the past year, with just 6% claiming to have increased the number of times they have consumed vodka over the same period. Recent research on behalf of Retail Intelligence by Empathy Research, amongst a nationally representative sample of 1,010 adults aged 18+, sought to understand this consumption change in the vodka category.
There are several factors driving this reduction in vodka consumption, with the primary driver being consumers losing their taste for vodka, with almost half (45%) of those who have decreased their vodka consumption claiming to have done so for this reason. Just over 1 in 5 (21%) of those who have decreased consumption have done so because other spirits taste nicer nowadays. Further to these two factors, there are almost 1in 5 (17%) who feel there are better options available with other spirits nowadays.
There appears to be leakage from vodka consumption to two main areas. Firstly, losses to other spirit types account for 37% of those who have reduced their vodka consumption. Gin is the spirit with which vodka is most likely to have been replaced, with 1 in 7 (15%) of those who have reduced their vodka consumption substituting it for gin. Just over 1 in 10 (11%) have replaced vodka with whiskey and 1 in 10 (10%) have replaced vodka with rum. There are 1 in 7 (14%) of those who have reduced their vodka consumption who have replaced vodka with wine, with this behaviour more prevalent amongst females, where almost 1 in 5 (18%) claim to have done so.
Secondly, there has been an overall reduction in vodka consumption which hasn’t necessarily been replaced with another type of alcohol, with almost half (48%) claiming this to be the case.
For further information and more in-depth analysis on consumer behaviour within the vodka category, please contact Robbie Clarke at Empathy Research.
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