COVID is a Great Opportunity to Market Exotic Alcohol to New Markets

Japan has not heretofore been known much for gin. While the country's whiskeys and beers are garnering global recognition for taste and quality in recent years, not all Western liquors are equally taken on by the general public. But as major distillery Suntory has started marketing its own domestically produced gin to a domestic audience, it could be a harbinger of not only Japanese but global, interest in a more wide-ranging alcoholic experience. Indeed, if the new opening of bars and pubs in Tokyo is anything to go by, previously little consumed liquors, from mezcal to pisco sour, are gradually becoming mainstream.

COVID-19 should accelerate the process of the general public adopting little known liquors to expand their alcoholic horizons. At any other time, most people go for social drinking in mainstream watering holes, which justifiably serve mostly mainstream drinks that its regular customers would order regularly on their regular visits. Given the steady stream of repeat customers, it simply makes not much business sense for mainstream bars and pubs to take the risk of completely revamping the menus to introduce alcohol that it would be unsure if regular customers have even heard of, much less buy.

But these are not normal times. As lockdowns and social distancing change the pattern of recreation for millions, people are increasing foregoing drinking at local bars and pubs in favor of making and consuming alcohol at home. Of course, the lack of skills and equipment at home means that the complex cocktails and mixed drinks whipped up by professionals at bars and pubs are no longer accessible. But to make up for the lack of professionalism, consumers can easily go for greater variety, spurred on by the increasing number of alcohol-focused e-commerce outlets.

The increase of online shoppers of alcohol and imbibers of alcohol at home creates an unprecedented opportunity for new kinds and types of liquors to spread in alcohol-loving markets like Japan. The globalization of food has been a growing trend in cosmopolitan cities around the world as immigrants bring cuisines from back home to interested foreigners who are seeking to try new things. Alcohol, unsurprisingly, has gone together with foreign foods, becoming the repertoire of young professionals who are increasingly seeing the eating of diverse foods not only as a sign of sophistication but a common practice in daily life.

COVID is unlikely to roll back that ever-broader interest in looking for new foods and drinks to try as a part of a daily routine for the millions of white-collar professionals who have not seen their incomes decline during the epidemic but has certainly seen a decrease in the ability to go out and passively look for new culinary curiosities to satisfy their palates that are seeking ever-more new tastes. Should the suppliers of unique foods and drinks market their products to the general public now, they would find a ready audience who would all up whatever new tastes are being peddled. 

Yet, even if the market for new drinks is robust, marketing them to first-time customers during the time of COVID-19. As people fear contracting the virus in outings for new dining experiences, they have moved into more home cooking, defined more by familiar comfort foods peculiar to individual cultures, rather than the adventurous foods that they are less comfortable cooking in between lengthier work hours. The key to getting people to imbibe new drinks would then be to ensure that in this case, newness is not equated to cumbersomeness, where more time and energy need to be expended to try new drinks like new foods at home.

Furthermore, as more people buy foods and drinks at home, marketers must contend with the increasing number of channels that they can advertise their products. As more people buy online, naturally more e-commerce portals will pop up to take advantage of the new demand, diversifying what used to be a more concentrated market controlled by a few internet conglomerates. With limited resources, firms cannot advertise in all of the new e-commerce channels. Which ones to choose and how much money to spend on each would require research into their respective audiences and future prospects for growth.

Undoubtedly, business risks are certainly there. Foods and drinks, ultimately, must conform, at least to a certain degree, to the mainstream local palate to be widely accepted enough to become a significant revenue earner. A drink that is considered delicious in one locale may not be considered as such in its original state in a different place. But given the specifics of distillery and manufacturing, liquors cannot be easily tweaked in formulas as foods. The only way to see if the drink will sell or not is to try advertising it and see if it sells or not. COVID provides perhaps the best opportunity to do so in quite some time.