Podcast ep. 54: Marten Lodewijks of IWSR

Marten Lodewijks is the Director of Consulting for the Americas for IWSR (website). So what is IWSR? What do they do? As their website says, “For over 50 years, IWSR has been the leading source of data on the global beverage alcohol market.”

We discussed the importance of data, analysis, and where the beverage industry might be headed. We also discussed the importance of not allowing data to cause analysis paralysis and the reminder that data is never perfect.

We discussed two trends that have been at play for the past twenty-plus years. Marten was quick to point out that trends have lots of nuance, so they should be studied, but also not taken as doctrine.

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* Health & Wellness: people have been and continue to be more aware of what they put into their bodies. This has led to concerns about additives, calories, and overall levels of drinking.

* With this comes the growth of the low and no-alcohol drink movements. As things often change from one generation to the next, it has been shown that younger generations are not as engaged with alcohol as a category.

* Marten and I briefly discussed the rise in Cannabis consumption. I mused how many people are simply trading one mind-altering substance for another. Marten says that data historically shows that cannabis users are lower income, but anecdotally on my end, many of the cannabis users I know do quite well financially, and are using those products much more now, and booze less than they used to.

* Premiumization: while they are not tied at the hip, premiumization and health & wellness can bounce off one another. As people aspire to be healthier, one signal for this, although not always true, is that more expensive products are often, or are at least thought to be made with better ingredients. Marten’s comments about people deciding to “Drink less but drink better” echoed those of Nicolas Palazzi of PM Spirits.

When I told Marten that a retailer in St. Louis, The Wine and Cheese Place, had begun displaying the additive-free tequila information created by Tequila Matchmaker, and that had notably shifted sales away from some of the beloved big brands he said, “I don’t doubt it.”

For me, there are a few important takeaways for smaller brands and bars

* Turn your wait staff, bartenders, or sales team into survey administrators. You already know how much you’re selling, taking time to ask customers or retailers a question or two to gain more data, may help you make better decisions.

* Turn questions into hypotheses. Marten pointed out that questions almost always lead to more questions. Turn a question into a hypothesis and then test it or use it to challenge your thinking.

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