High-Tech Cocktails Survey: Few Likely to Go Out of Their Way for Technology

There’s a new wave of cocktails making their mark on the beverage industry. Bars and other businesses are using a wide array of new high-tech devices to improve their brewing techniques and mixology, as reported by this Bloomberg video. But how many consumers are really interested in this new wave of high-tech cocktails? We asked 1,000 respondents about their thoughts on the beverage industry and whether or not technology might have an impact on their buying habits going forward.

Bar Consumers

In Ask Your Target Market’s latest online survey, 5% of respondents said that they have purchased alcoholic beverages from bars or restaurants within the past day. 12% have within the past week. Another 12% have within the past month. 10% said they’ve purchased drinks from bars or restaurants in the past three months. 7% have within the last year. 13% said they last purchased drinks from bars or restaurants over a year ago. And 41% don’t ever purchase drinks from bars or restaurants.More specifically, 51% of those who purchase drinks from bars or restaurants at least on occasion said that they regularly purchase beer. 40% purchase cocktails or mixed drinks. 35% usually choose wine. 23% purchase liquor. And 14% buy hard cider or soda drinks.

Store Consumers

On the other hand, 5% of respondents also said that they’ve purchased alcoholic beverages from a store within the past day. 16% have done so in the past week. Another 16% have within the past month. 12% have within the past three months. 7% have within the past year. Another 7% said that they last purchased alcohol at a store over a year ago. And 37% aren’t alcohol buyers at all.More specifically, 56% of those alcohol consumers said that they regularly purchase beer. 44% prefer wine. 42% purchase liquor from stores. 20% buy hard cider or soda drinks. And 18% buy cocktails or mixed drinks from stores.

High-Tech Cocktails

In general, 34% think that using technology in the brewing or mixing process can help alcoholic beverages taste better. 30% think that technology can help make alcoholic beverages healthier. And 44% think that technology can make alcoholic beverages more interesting.In addition, 22% of bar consumers said that they would be at least somewhat likely to go out of their way to purchase alcoholic beverages that were brewed or mixed using high-tech equipment. And 19% of store consumers said they would be likely to go out of their way to purchase beverages made with high-tech equipment. The most popular brands that people associate with high-tech drinks include Jack Daniels, Bacardi, Heineken, Smirnoff and Budweiser.

Key Takeaways

Technology can certainly have an impact on companies that make alcoholic beverages. But based on the brands that consumers associate with high-tech drinks, it’s not something that companies necessarily need to call a lot of attention to in their marketing efforts. If the technology has an impact on the taste, quality or other factors of different drinks, then consumers seem more likely to care about those end results than about the methods used to get there. However, consumers were a bit more likely to say that they would go out of their way for high-tech drinks at bars or restaurants. So that could suggest that if you can make those high-tech methods part of an overall experience that makes the process of buying cocktails more unique or interesting, then that’s something that could potentially sway consumers.You can view the complete survey results in the widget below and be sure to click “Open Full Report” to take advantage of all the chart and filter options.Photo Credit: Tech mocktails two Intel blue coladas article by Intel Free Press under CC BY-SA 2.0What do you want to know? If you need some consumer insights on a particular topic, let us know in the comments below and we’ll consider it for an upcoming survey post.

Results were collected on January 15-21 via AYTM’s online survey panel.