快餐、烘焙之后 商超巨头们又看上了这门生意

This article outlines the latest industry trend of major supermarket chains rushing into the on-demand alcohol retail business:

1. Supermarkets currently test multiple formats for alcohol sales, including in-store liquor shops, small on-site bars, and self-service alcohol dispensers. Most offerings are priced low: a single serving starts from 2.9 yuan. Many also run "meal + alcohol" bundle promotions that offer free alcohol with a minimum food purchase, delivering high value for casual, everyday tasting.

2. This emerging business still faces notable growing pains: consumer acceptance of "drinking while grocery shopping" remains low, with most visits limited to one-off trial trips rather than recurring consumption. Supermarkets also offer far fewer alcohol options than specialty liquor stores, and lack the social atmosphere of traditional bars. For consumers prioritizing drinking experience, local community taprooms still deliver a better experience.

Driven by the growing "light intoxication" trend, the draft/on-demand alcohol market is expanding rapidly, and major supermarket chains have collectively entered this new on-premise drinking segment. Key takeaways for brands are as follows:

1. **Consumer trend**: Consumers now have new demand for on-demand alcohol purchases during grocery trips, creating an untapped market gap between traditional "buy alcohol to drink at home" and "go out to a bar". Young consumers prioritize cost-effective and convenient alcohol products, while consumer demand in lower-tier markets is also rising rapidly.

2. **Landscape and opportunities**: Current players all have unique strengths: leading liquor giants have strong brand recognition and production capacity, specialty taprooms boast curated selections and community loyalty, and supermarkets benefit from massive existing foot traffic. Brands can leverage supermarket traffic by partnering on in-store shop concepts, or prioritize affordable pricing to tap lower-tier markets, and build marketing strategies around the new on-demand drinking scenario.

3. **Existing challenges**: Consumer acceptance of the in-supermarket drinking scenario is still low, and for most supermarkets, alcohol currently delivers more value as a customer acquisition tool than as a direct revenue driver. Market performance across the segment varies wildly, and brands should remain cautious of over-expansion risks.

This article summarizes the current development, opportunities and risks of the on-demand draft alcohol market for sellers looking to enter the space:

1. **Market opportunities**: The draft alcohol segment continues to expand, with leading specialty taproom chains accelerating national expansion, especially strong growth in lower-tier markets. Leading liquor brands, craft brewers and major supermarkets have all entered the space, and consumer awareness of draft on-demand alcohol is steadily growing, leaving significant room for market growth. The new "on-demand drinking during grocery shopping" scenario also creates incremental revenue opportunities for sellers.

2. **Risk warnings**: Performance across the segment remains mixed, with wide gaps between top and bottom players. Many small and medium-sized locations only generate around 1,000 yuan in average daily revenue, with an industry average gross margin below 50%, creating significant pressure to recoup initial investment. Supermarket entrants benefit from inherent foot traffic advantages that will divert some customers from independent players, and the new scenario still suffers from low consumer acceptance, making customer retention particularly challenging.

3. **Key takeaways**: Sellers should focus on deep community penetration, offer a broad selection of products, build private社群 to drive repeat purchases, develop strong community loyalty, and continuously improve customer experience.

The rapid growth of the on-demand draft alcohol market brings new business opportunities and transformation insights for alcohol producers:

1. **Product design requirements**: Consumers now prefer affordable bulk on-demand alcohol, with demand spanning multiple categories including baijiu, craft beer, fruit wine and low-alcohol beverages. Producers also need the flexibility to adjust product portfolios based on regional consumer preferences and seasonal shifts to match market demand.

2. **Business opportunities**: As traditional tobacco and liquor stores lose market traction, the draft alcohol segment is expanding quickly. Factories can capture growth by supplying alcohol to specialty taprooms and supermarkets, growing their B2B incremental revenue. They can also follow the examples of Gujing Gongjiu and Kouzijiao: leverage their own brand and production advantages to enter the draft taproom market directly, opening up new sales channels.

3. **Transformation insights**: Factories can capitalize on the "light intoxication" consumption trend, adjust business layouts to align with new consumption scenarios, and capture the incremental growth from the on-demand drinking market.

The "light intoxication" trend has driven rapid growth in the on-demand draft alcohol market, creating new industry trends and unmet client pain points, which translate to new opportunities for service providers:

1. **Industry trends**: The on-demand draft alcohol format is gradually taking market share from traditional tobacco and liquor stores, with a growing diversity of players including specialty chain taprooms, liquor giants and supermarkets driving continuous segment expansion. Lower-tier markets offer particularly large growth potential, and consumer awareness of draft on-demand alcohol is steadily improving, putting the industry in a phase of rapid expansion.

2. **Core client pain points**: Supermarkets entering the alcohol space generally lack professional selection capabilities, sufficient SKU breadth, and experience in community operation, and have not yet achieved economies of scale. Small and medium-sized taproom brands lack brand support, operational expertise, face high customer acquisition costs, and struggle to recoup initial investment. Across the entire industry, few players have strong capabilities in scenario building and community loyalty management.

3. **Business opportunities**: Service providers can tailor offerings to different client groups: provide product selection supply chains and community agency operation services for supermarkets, and offer store opening consulting, brand empowerment, and marketing customer acquisition services for small and medium-sized taprooms, helping clients cut operational costs and improve operating efficiency.

A growing number of supermarket platforms are expanding into alcohol retail. This article summarizes key industry insights and risk warnings for platforms:

1. **Consumer demand**: Consumers now have on-demand alcohol needs during grocery trips, prioritizing cost-effective and convenient drinking experiences. The "prepared food + alcohol" combination scenario has gained the highest traction, with consumers willing to drink on-site after purchasing food.

2. **Mainstream current operation models**: Most supermarkets integrate alcohol services into existing stores via light formats such as in-store liquor shops, small bars and self-service dispensers, focusing on low prices for customer acquisition. The lowest price point starts at 2.9 yuan per serving, and promotions such as free alcohol with minimum purchase help drive overall store sales. The core goal is to retain customers and improve in-store experience through this new scenario, meaning alcohol delivers more value as a traffic driver than as a direct revenue source.

3. **Risk mitigation suggestions**: Given low consumer acceptance of the in-supermarket drinking scenario and that real sales volume is far lower than social media hype, platforms need to deepen product selection, improve community operation capabilities, gradually expand locations to achieve economies of scale, focus on building social experience and customer loyalty, and avoid the pitfall of relying solely on low prices that fail to drive repeat visits.

This article outlines the latest industry developments in the on-demand draft alcohol segment and supermarket alcohol retail, highlighting new open questions for research:

1. **New industry developments**: Hit hard by competition from online platforms, traditional brick-and-mortar supermarkets are increasingly adding new scenarios such as food and beverage and on-site drinking to improve customer experience, making supermarket entry into on-demand alcohol a new trend in new retail. The draft alcohol segment now has a diverse competitive landscape with three major player groups: specialty chain taprooms, leading liquor giants, and supermarkets. The segment is expanding rapidly into lower-tier markets, and consumer acceptance of bulk alcohol consumption is steadily growing.

2. **New business model**: Supermarkets have created a new intermediate "grocery shopping + on-demand drinking" scenario that fills the market gap between "buy alcohol to drink at home" and "drink at a professional bar". The core of this business model is to use alcohol as a customer acquisition tool to drive overall store sales, so the traffic-driving value of alcohol far outweighs its direct sales value.

3. **Open research questions**: Performance across the segment varies dramatically, with small and medium players facing heavy pressure to recoup investment, and the supermarket model lacks professional capabilities and economies of scale. Competition in the space remains a dynamic long-term process, and the final market structure has not yet been settled, making sustained tracking and research particularly valuable.