Booze sales soar 55 PER CENT as coronavirus self-isolators drink through their boredom at home – The Sun

BOOZE sales have risen 55 per cent – with online purchases skyrocketing – as Americans turn to the bottle to cope with the coronavirus crisis.

People have more than doubled their requests for wine, tequila, gin and other drinks for the week ending March 21, according to the market research firm Nielsen.

Sales jumped 75 percent compared to the same period last year.

Predictably, online alcohol sales went up a whopping 243 per cent with most Americans sheltered in place.

Bars were shut down across the US earlier this month, but liquor stores have remained open.

“I suspect that the week ending March 21st will feature the strongest growth rates that we will see during this consumer pantry-loading time,” Danelle Kosmal told The Drinks Business.

“Data for the week ending 28 March will be very telling, and I think it will be a better indicator of the new normal in how consumers are responding to the crisis and their new normal, centered around the home.”

Kosmal told The Associated Press that she believes growth rates peaked as people loaded up their kitchens before stay-at-home orders went into effect.

Most of the people who made orders online purchased wine, accounting for 71 per cent of alcohol sales, according to The Drinks Business.

Beer, cider and flavored malt beverages rose 42 per cent, according to the news outlet.

However, an expert warns that the trend could change if Americans are forced to focus more on necessities such as food.

Laurent Grandet of Guggenheim Securities believes sales will be strong for cheap beers such as Budweiser, but cautioned that craft beer will take a hit.

"It's a perfect storm for the craft beer business," Grandet told CNN Business.

There have been more than 930,000 cases of the coronavirus around the world, including more than 200,000 in the US.

Experts fear 200,000 people or more could die during the pandemic.

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