Online grocer Thrive Market goes dry, launches non-alcoholic products

Thrive Market is practically drying up.

Online health and grocery marketplace will be first major online grocer to remove all alcoholic products as they are removed subscription service. The company plans to completely transform the category with a product line of more than 20 brands and 100 products spanning non-alcoholic beer, wine and mocktails.

“It’s time to double down on alcohol-free consumption and take a stance that aligns with where we think the science and attitudes among health and wellness consumers are changing,” Thrive CEO Nick Green told CNBC. “Alcohol is not the future.”

The company said the move reflects changing consumer preferences and the growing popularity of “Dry January,” when people refrain from drinking at the start of the new year. Thrive first entered the wine market seven years ago because it saw an opportunity to “raise the health standards in the category,” according to Green, but saw the decline in the category in recent years as the reason for its exit.

“What surprised me was how quickly this change happened in alcohol,” Green said. “There’s a complete attitude change, sort of a paradigm shift, in that alcohol is viewed as similar to tobacco; I think there was a time when smoking was very socially acceptable.”

A recent Gallup report found that only 54% of U.S. adults now consume alcohol, one of the lowest levels in decades. Meanwhile, the latest Nielsen beer browser data shows U.S. beer volumes have fallen by an average single-digit percentage year-over-year since June.

Research firm Bernstein said the data underlined a deeper trend for consumers to move away from traditional beer, especially at a time when drinkers are exploring everything from spirit-based ready-made cocktails to non-alcoholic alternatives.

“It is becoming clearer that we are seeing a broad-based decline in alcohol consumption in the United States,” Bernstein analyst Nadine Sarwat said in a recent research note.

At the same time, the soft drink industry is booming, with sales expected to reach: $5 billion by 2028According to alcohol data firm IWSR. More like brands AB InBev, MolsonCoors And heineken They entered the market.

Thrive said its own data also reflects national change. Searches for non-alcoholic options on ThriveMarket.com have steadily increased and accelerated over the past three months.

Named a CNBC Disruptor 50 company in both 2024 and 2025, Thrive has more than 1.7 million paying members nationwide and generated over $700 million in sales last year. Since the average customer loads 15 items per cart, the company claims that an increasing number of these items will be non-alcoholic.

“People don’t shop at Thrive Market like they shop on Amazon, where they order one thing and have it shipped separately,” Green said. “People are buying big boxes of ingredients and looking to us for pantry staples, similar to what businesses like Costco are seeing.”

The company also cites logistics as the motivation for the move. While alcohol can only be shipped to 39 states, most soft drinks can be shipped to the entire US

“People are basically turning to a healthier alternative,” Green said. “We can focus on being the place they go to innovate.”