Online grocer Thrive Market is taking a step other big food sellers haven't: it's cutting alcohol entirely and betting on booze-free substitutes instead. The subscription-based marketplace will become "the first major online grocer" to pull all alcoholic products from its offerings, reports CNBC. In its place, shoppers will find more than 20 brands and 100-plus nonalcoholic beers, wines, and mocktails from brands like Athletic Brewing Company, Best Day Brewing, Gruvi, hiyo, De Soi, and Free AF, reports MLive.
"Alcohol is not the future," CEO Nick Green put it plainly. Thrive, which began offering wine seven years ago as a way to "raise health standards in the category," says declining interest in alcohol among its customers helped drive the reversal. Green says he's been struck by "how fast that shift has seemed to happen." National data backs him up: a recent Gallup report found just 54% of US adults now drink alcohol, one of the lowest shares in decades. Nielsen data shows US beer volumes have been falling by a mid–single-digit percentage year over year since June.
The nonalcoholic drinks sector, meanwhile, is expanding, with alcohol data firm IWSR projecting it will reach $5 billion in sales by 2028. Thrive says searches for nonalcoholic products on its site have been climbing, especially over the last three months. The company, which has 1.7 million paying members and logged more than $700 million in sales last year, pointed out a logistical perk regarding the switch: Alcohol can be shipped to 39 states, while most nonalcoholic beverages can ship nationwide.
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