Alcohol buying trend? Mobile shopping app sees rise in ‘brewpon’ rebate redemptions

I can’t tell whether I hate or love the term brewponing yet. Brewpons are rebates and cash back apps used when customers are buying their beer, wine and liquor. Get it? A brew coupon? Clever pun or dumb fake marketing term? The answer might be both. Anyway, clever, annoying or neutral, it might be a way to create some modicum of loyalty in an increasingly unloyal marketplace.

Mobile shopping app Ibotta analyzed more than 31 million receipts over the last year, revealing a 25 percent percent growth in alcohol rebate redemptions during that time. Wine spiked more than three times that, with an 84 percent growth in rebate redemptions. The analysis also found that young males, Ibotta’s fastest growing user group, redeemed alcohol rebates at a higher rate than younger females (31 percent compared to 26 percent).

Even though studies show that younger Americans prefer wine and spirits to beer nowadays, last year alcohol sales dropped for the first time in five years. And Bud, Miller and Coors all expect volume dips around 3 percent in 2017, an annual trend for the beer giants since 2011. But with nearly nine in 10 millennials using coupons, be it traditional clippings, online promotions, rebate programs, etc., alcoholic brands are realizing the value of using rewards offers to reach the financially savvy Brewponing audience.

Alcohol brands like Anheuser-Busch are already leveraging Ibotta to reward millennials with cash back on beer, wine and spirits purchased in restaurants, bars and at sporting events all over the country. Even alcohol delivery brands like Drizly and Minibar are partnering with Ibotta in its recently expanded Mobile Marketplace to reach this new Brewponing demographic at home. Ibotta’s analytics also reveal that men ages 25-34 are nearly three times more likely than women to order alcohol on demand via Drizly or Minibar.