7-Eleven partners with Minibar Delivery as pandemic-era alcohol delivery accelerates

The pandemic changed the way we shop (see above), drink, and shop for drinks. The US is now expected to have the largest alcohol e-commerce market in the world by the end of 2021, beating China’s long-standing reign, according to data from IWSR. Earlier this year, Uber chugged alcohol delivery company Drizly for $1.1 billion.

And now you can add booze to your Slurpee delivery. America’s convenience store, 7-Eleven, has joined Target and Macy’s in the booze-fueled fun, announcing a new partnership with Minibar Delivery.

• 600 stores across Florida, Texas, and Virginia are participating in the 7-Eleven x Minibar pilot launch. The service will expand to additional markets, including New York and California, later in the year.
• Customers can order from 7-Eleven’s selection of wine and beer via Minibar Delivery's app or website.

What’s in it for me? The partnership allows Minibar to expand into hundreds of new locations and markets at a rapid pace. For 7-Eleven? “This collaboration with Minibar Delivery helps us broaden our reach even further by adding even more convenience for our customers,” 7-Eleven Digital Senior Vice President Raghu Mahadevan told Retail Brew. “On-demand ordering and delivery has become an expectation from retailers.”

2020 was kind to Minibar. “We saw huge growth last March and April, like nothing we'd ever seen before,” CEO and cofounder Lindsey Andrews told us. The company saw a 500% increase in new customers in those months, while overall business went up 139%.

The online food delivery segment should reach $31.9 million in 2021, per Statista. That’s an annual growth rate of 9.18%, increasing to 12.2% in 2022. The US alcohol e-comm market grew more than 80% from 2019 to 2020.

One way 7-Eleven and Minibar are setting themselves apart is with their "Auto Refill" scheduled delivery option, but competition is fierce in the growing space. In the US, just three apps handled 86% of online alcohol delivery orders between March and May 2021.

• Swill and Drizly had the most searches, clicks, and shares, at 38% and 30%, according to ShareThis data. Meanwhile, major players like Instacart and DoorDash took 18% and 3% of the orders.

“Alcohol delivery is here to stay. The convenience is appreciated by many people. Even if things become really safe, we’ll still see an increase in alcohol delivery [versus pre-pandemic years] because of the availability of the services,” Inna Kuznetsova, CEO of 1010data, told us. “When people start using online delivery, it proves to be very sticky,” she added, pointing to Instacart’s quick growth.

“It becomes the default, mainstream option. There’s proof that there’s high demand for this service. I can see a world where every wine store has a delivery option.”—JG