In the 2023 National Liquor News Industry Leaders Forum, Global Endeavours Australia gives an inside look at what to expect from the portfolio in the year ahead.
Global Endeavours Australia (GEA) is a New Zealand based manufacturer of food and beverages that entered the Australian market in early 2021 and has found particular success with its Batched Premium Cocktails.
Originally launching with a hero range of Batched Premium Cocktails, together with a unique range of NZ gin and vodka, the brands have been received extremely well across the market in the past year.
Maurice Melis, CEO of GEA, has told National Liquor News that we can expect to see a variety of new product releases in Australia in 2023, including wine, RTDs, and functional beverages.
“We have just acquired a winery and several vineyards in Hawkes Bay, New Zealand and are about to launch an exciting new range of NZ wines,” says Melis.
“We are actively exploring new RTD ideas to launch in 2023, and our new ‘Hard’ Iced Tea, Loony’s, is looking to be our next big launch into Australia. Our beverages business is also growing rapidly, and we have just launched our first functional beverage, No Ordinary Ice Tea, which is a low sugar tea containing antioxidants and Vitamin C.
“GEA’s focus into 2023 will be to continue to build on the fantastic foundations the team have established across our liquor portfolio and to bring some exciting new product development (NPD) to market. We’re very excited about what can be achieved over the next year.
“As a small to medium business, we’re conscious of not spreading ourselves too broadly. Our focus will be directed to where we can offer greatest value to consumers and customers.”
Challenges and opportunities
Entering the Australian market during the pandemic came with a set of challenges, including changes in consumer behaviour and the rising cost of living.
“The bottled cocktail segment proved somewhat more challenging than the RTD segment with several headwinds impacting sales, including slowdown of home cocktail consumption versus strong demand in prior years (COVID lockdowns), increased levels of competition in market and concerns about cost of living pressures,” says Melis.
“The rising cost of living and how that impacts the economy, and subsequently demand, will be a key challenge for us in 2023. Our biggest opportunity is how we best respond to that changing consumer behaviour to maintain momentum in our business. We feel offering forms of value, together with an emotional attachment to brands, will become increasingly important.
“The RTD category, specifically pre-mixed alcoholic drinks, such as cocktails or tequila, remains strong and seem to be increasing in shelf space in-store. This is an area that we see remaining at forefront of new trends into 2023.”
How are Australians consuming alcohol?
Reflecting on his observations of the Australian liquor consumer, Melis said: “We have noted the low or no alcoholic segment continues to gain traction as more Australians refrain from or reduce alcohol consumption. This is driven primarily by health and wellbeing concerns but also likely cost of living pressures over the next year too.
“Beer seems to be in decline while segments like RTDs seem to be gaining in popularity, especially with pre-mixed products like canned cocktails or tequila.”
Find more from the 2023 National Liquor News Industry Leaders Forum here.