Monday, 7 April, 2025
The Drinks Business, James Bayley
But what has this meant for how people think about, search for and ultimately consume alcohol?
A series of newly published studies led by researchers at the University of North Carolina explores this question through multiple lenses: online search behaviour, consumption patterns and delivery policy environments across the United States from 2019 to 2023.
Their findings — drawn from Google Trends data and a cross-sectional survey of 5,360 adults in 18 states — suggest a complex relationship between policy change and public behaviour.
The research team found a “significant increase” in online searches for alcohol delivery immediately after DTC policies were expanded in California in March 2020, a state already familiar with such services. However, that spike was temporary. Searches declined steadily in the months that followed — a pattern mirrored in Georgia, which introduced its first DTC policy in August 2020, albeit later in the pandemic cycle.
To read the full article, click HERE.