Boston-based Drizly released its first-ever study of how Americans shop for adult beverages, both in-store and online. The study found that digitally native Gen Z purchases alcohol from local liquor stores more often than their millennial, Gen X and baby boomer counterparts. Gen Z also ranks first when it comes to interest in drinking trends, suggesting that their purchasing behavior today could well be a benchmark for how beer, wine and spirits consumption will look tomorrow, the company says.

Drizly also found common ground among generations. For one, a shared desire for more education to help inform their purchases of wine, spirits and beer, in descending order.

The following are additional key findings:

• A Thirst for Education: When it comes to alcohol shopping, knowledge is power. Ninety-four percent of Gen Z respondents, 71 percent of millennial respondents and 61 percent of Gen X/older respondents all crave more knowledge about wine to inform their purchase decisions. At 47 percent, Gen Z is most interested in learning more about beer, besting millennials (38 percent) and Gen X/older (29 percent).

• What’s Trending: As suppliers innovate and introduce new products, they have a welcome audience in Gen Z as 49 percent of whom pay attention to drinking trends, followed by millennials (40 percent), and Gen X/older (31 percent), respectively.

• Sticking with Go-To Categories: Interest in what might be hot tomorrow isn’t seriously impacting what we’re buying today. Drizly found that almost 60 percent of respondents always or most of the time drink the same type of alcohol, and only 5 percent are open to regularly trying something new. The finding holds across generations, as Gen Z and millennials are only slightly more likely to try something new on a regular basis (6 percent) than Gen X/older (4 percent).

• Online Shopping – Still Taking Shape: Even as online shopping becomes more the norm across major consumer goods categories, digital alcohol shopping is still a work in progress. Fifty percent of respondents who have bought alcohol online still visit local liquor stores to make the majority of their purchases. This behavior continues even with online purchasers as 62 percent of consumers that purchase from a retailer for the first time ever using the Drizly app say they are likely to shop the same retailer again in-store, the study finds. BI