Alcohol Ecommerce Trends and Tactics: Insights From Jack Daniel’s, Molson Coors, and Treasury Wine Estates

Tending bar is one thing. But have you ever tried to sell the hard stuff online?

If so, you likely already know that alcohol ecommerce isn’t for the faint of heart — or for anyone who breaks into a sweat at the phrase “state-by-state compliance.”

Successful alcohol brands often face an uphill battle when adapting to an ever-shifting digital landscape in which every platform speaks a different language. To scale on the digital shelf, businesses need to learn fast, stay flexible, and discover new ways to connect with shoppers across an increasingly fragmented network of touch points.

At Salsify’s 2025 Digital Shelf Summit in New Orleans, a panel of industry veterans shared their insights on how the largest alcohol brands in the world have successfully navigated this rapidly evolving ecommerce space.

The panel, “The Perfect Mix: Technology, Trends, and Tactics in Alcohol Ecommerce,” featured moderator Amanda Wolff, chief revenue officer at Jenda; Lynette Green, ecommerce brand manager at Jack Daniel's, Brown-Forman; Kacy Raffe, senior marketing manager of ecommerce at Molson Coors; and Tammy Ackerman, vice president of ecommerce and direct-to-consumer (D2C) marketing at Treasury Wine Estates.

Let’s take a look at some of their biggest takeaways, along with what ecommerce leaders in any category can learn from their approach.

The Rapid Growth of Alcohol Ecommerce

Before the pandemic, alcohol ecommerce was barely a blip — just a fraction of total category sales, with only about a dozen states allowing spirits shipping and delivery at all, Green says.

But that landscape looks dramatically different now. Today, 43 states permit beer, wine, or spirits delivery, and Business Research Insights projects that the alcohol delivery service market will nearly double to $12 billion by 2033.

According to Green, that growth represents a major game-changer for the industry and brands’ campaign strategies. “All of that just sort of came together at the right time,” Green says.

After such a dramatic, rapid shift, brands that were once cautious about D2C or third-party delivery are finding themselves in a race to meet rising demand, while rewiring their strategies to appeal to a new kind of alcohol consumer.

The Importance of Keeping Your Playbook Flexible

In alcohol ecommerce, even basic execution can get messy fast. Strict regulations often prevent brands from selling directly to retailers or consumers, meaning they have to work through intermediaries — an industry dynamic known as the three-tier system.

Panelists describe how this setup forces them to take a hybrid strategic approach: They must handle major retailers like Walmart and Instacart with dedicated resources and content strategies, while leaning on distributor relationships to support independent or regional accounts.

Even so, limitations remain. Green says that the Jack Daniel’s team is unable to directly access Walmart content due to credentialing constraints — a common issue for alcohol brands navigating retailer portals, she said.

Rather than chasing total control, leading brands are learning to simultaneously optimize for the environments they can influence and keep their attention focused on areas most likely to make an impact.

Third-Party Delivery Apps Offer the Most Freedom — For Now

Liquor rules and regulations make retail media a tricky proposition for alcohol brands. 

While certain workarounds exist, traditional channels like Amazon and grocery retailers remain heavily restricted, with brands unable to run sponsored search or fully control how their products appear. As Wolff noted, even keyword bidding is limited.

Panelists noted that delivery platforms like Instacart, DoorDash, and Gopuff don’t carry inventory, which means they aren’t technically retailers. That legal distinction gives alcohol brands a lot more flexibility to shape the shopper experience — whether it’s with custom product content, precision targeting, or cross-platform integrations.

Strong PDP and SEO Strategies Remain Essential

Visibility and clarity still rule the digital shelf in the alcohol space.

Green says that Jack Daniel’s “infuses” critical shopper information — specifically, data drawn from post-pandemic research into how BevAlc consumers make decisions — into product detail pages (PDPs).

Ackerman used that same strategy at Treasury Wine Estates. The brand overhauled its product copy across 200 SKUs to reduce the use of sommelier-esque descriptors like “leather” and “tobacco.” Instead, they leaned into common search terms like “smooth” or “berry-forward” — the kinds of words real people use when shopping.

By aligning copy with search behavior, both brands found ways to boost discoverability — even within retailer environments they don’t directly control.

Ecommerce Is Still Small — But It’s Growing

Every panelist emphasized that ecommerce might be a small share of total alcohol revenue, but it’s growing. Fast.  

“While it still makes up a relatively small portion of overall sales, it continues to grow year over year, outpacing in-store sales growth,” Raffe says, adding that omnichannel shoppers “make more frequent trips” and have “overall bigger baskets.”

Green agreed, pointing to broader digital behavior shifts: “The future consumer is an online consumer. And if you're not there, you will not be influencing the in-store.”

“[Consumers] want to research, they want to look, they want to browse,” Ackerman says.

What’s Next for Alcohol Ecommerce?

For alcohol brands, success on the digital shelf isn’t just about better PDPs or clever content tweaks. It’s about relentless coordination across legal, distributor, and platform silos.

It isn’t easy work. But as the panelists made clear, the brands gaining traction are the ones treating digital as a strategic battleground, not a side hustle. Ecommerce may still be a fraction of total sales — but it’s the proving ground for future-ready teams.