COVID-19 impact on consumer intent to buy alcohol online in the Netherlands 2020

If consumers in the Netherlands were planning to buy alcohol during the coronavirus pandemic, the majority would not order this online. This conclusion was based on a biweekly survey that looked at consumers' net spending intent (the percentage of respondents indicating they will spend more over the next four weeks minus the percentage who said they will spend less), whilst people were in self-isolation. The net spending intent was -15 percent on April 19, -12 percent on May 3, -2 percent on May 16, -9 percent on May 30, -8 percent on June 13, -7 percent on June 27, -10 percent on July 11 and -10 percent on July 25. This overview looks at the distribution of offline and online purchase channels within those answers. Overall, about seven out of ten respondents from the Netherlands preferred to buy alcoholic beverages in-store. As net spending increased, however, so did the share of respondents who said that they planned to buy beer and wine through a web shop. When quarantine measures became less strict in the Netherlands, however, ordering alcohol online seemingly became less common.