Labels Drive Sales in Craft Beer Market
Hopheads, lager lovers, and ale aficionados will tell you there are four categories that determine the craft beers they purchase and consume. And sure, appearance, aroma, taste and mouthfeel are essential to the beer drinking experience. But before that bottle cap comes off, it’s the label that draws eyes and drives sales.
Avery Dennison has sponsored a study conducted by Package InSight that tracked how label materials impact purchase decisions in the ever-expanding craft beer industry. In a recently published white paper, “Measuring the Impact of Label Materials on Craft Beer Purchase Decisions,” Avery Dennison details the results of this study, explaining how the exterior of bottles can drive craft beer drinkers to choose a product in a crowded marketplace.
The study, conducted at Clemson University’s CUshop Consumer Experience Laboratory, took two days and included nearly 200 participants. According to the white paper, the laboratory was transformed to replicate a typical beer store. The shoppers entered the environment wearing eye-tracking glasses, recording eye movements during the time spent in the simulated store.
The results clearly demonstrate that when it comes to labels, material matters. For example, glossy film and wood veneer were the labels that drew consumers’ eyes most quickly, but consumers spent more time looking at bottles with clear film labels.
While purchasing behavior seemed to vary, one important result stands out. The participants in the study indicated that at least in some way, labels and packaging matter to them.
So, the next time you hear from a craft beer drinker that a beer’s ‘balance’ and ‘complexity,’ matters most, you’ll know that maybe it’s really what’s on the outside that counts.
Click here to read the full white paper from Avery Dennison.
