Drizly sales up 219% on US election day

The US presidential election on 3 November boosted online alcohol retailer Drizly’s sales by 219% above its baseline year-over-year growth.

On Tuesday 3 November, voters in America flocked to the polls to elect the next president of the US. More than 146 million people cast their votes in the election, which saw Democrat candidate Joe Biden eventually beat Republican and current president Donald Trump.

Sales for election day were 67.7% higher than the average of the previous four Tuesdays.

The retailer’s sales were boosted by increases in Washington DC, New York City and Boston, which rose by 132.6%, 110.4% and 83.4%, respectively. Drizly also noted increases in Chicago (55.2%) and Los Angeles (35%).

Drizly saw its sales rise by 33% across states that voted Republican, including Idaho, Wyoming and Oklahoma. In Democrat-voting states, sales were 75.3% higher than average. Democrat states Drizly operates in includes California, Oregon, and Massachusetts.

Across ‘battleground’ states such as Arizona, Georgia and Philadelphia, which were key to determining the outcome of the election, sales were 54.8% higher than average.

In terms of spirits, vodka and Bourbon accounted for 18.3% and 19% of sales respectively.

Bourbon, rye whiskey and liqueurs and cordials also increased their share of sales, while vodka’s share of spirit sales dropped 2.8 percentage points.

The total increase in sales was slightly below the boost Drizly witnessed during the 2016 election when online sales were 69% higher than average.

Earlier this year, Drizly raised US$50m in funding to accelerate its product offering and customer growth.