It's always intriguing to look at different data points and see what people are searching for online and compare it to what their actually behavior is like at retail. For example, below is a chart of web searches for beer, wine and spirits. You can see from the chart below that people are searching for all three of these liquids much more frequently on the weekend vs during the middle of the week. Of course this aligns perfectly well with when people buy these products most frequently. It's also interesting to note that searches for wine increased fairly rapidly leading up to the holiday season. Conversely, beer and liquor searches remained relatively flat. This is of course is not directly correlated to what sells better during the holidays, as all three liquids see a substantial increase during this time frame. However, we can look deeper into this data to see what these people are searching for and make sure our advertising plans take these trends into consideration.
Below is a map of the United States showing by state which liquids were searched for most frequently over the past 90 days. It's interesting that in southern sates, which are dominated by beer (over 60% of beverage alcohol dollars), that searches for wine are much more prevalent. We look at this as a sign that people are utilizing web search more frequently for wine products or information about wine. The rate of sale for beer, is of course much higher, and overall generates more dollars. However interest in wine styles, brands and occasions is generating more web searches. Beer brands need to look at what consumers are searching for and stay abreast of not only what their fellow beer suppliers are doing, but their wine competition as well.