title: Off-premise alcohol purchasing in Australia: Variations by age group, income level and annual amount purchased.
abstract: To delineate what type and how much alcohol is purchased from different types of off-licence premises and how this varies across demographic sub-groups, as a basis for public debate and decisions on pricing and planning policies to reduce alcohol-related harm in Australia.
  
  
  
  The data on alcohol purchasing from off-licence premises are taken from the Australian Alcohol Consumption and Purchasing survey-a nationally representative landline and mobile telephone survey in 2013 on the experiences with alcohol consumption and purchasing of 2020 Australians aged 16+. The present analysis uses data from 1730 respondents who purchased alcohol from off-licence premises in the previous 6 months.
  
  
  
  The majority (54%) of alcohol purchased from off-licence premises was sold from liquor barns (large warehouse-style alcohol stores), with bottle shops (31%) the second most common outlet. Cask wine was the cheapest alcohol available at off-licence premises in Australia. Respondents in higher alcohol purchasing quintiles and with those with lower income purchased a higher percentage of cheaper alcohol in their total volume of purchasing than lower purchasing quintiles and those with middle and higher income, and younger respondents purchased more expensive alcohol than older age groups.
  
  
  
  A minimum unit price or increasing alcohol taxes may effectively reduce alcohol purchasing for lower income heavy alcohol purchasers and older age groups from off-licence premise sources, and may be less effective on younger age groups. [Jiang H, Callinan S, Livingston M, Room R. Off-premise alcohol purchasing in Australia: Variations by age group, income level and annual amount purchased. Drug Alcohol Rev 2017;36:210-219].
authors.affiliation: Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Heng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Callinan
authors.affiliation: Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Livingston
authors.affiliation: Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.|Centre for Social Research on Alcohol and Drugs, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Robin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Room
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000191:economics* / Q000517:prevention & control; D000434:Alcoholic Beverages / Q000191:economics*; D001315:Australia; D003132:Commerce / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013660:Taxes / Q000191:economics*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: alcohol; alcohol policy; off-premise; price; purchasing behaviour