Strong sales in the beers, wines and spirits categories in the two weeks to 2 January helped UK supermarkets to slow the general decline in grocery value sales.
Alcoholic products gained an extra £60m in sales during the weeks of Christmas and New Year, according to freshly released data from insights provider IRI. This was higher than total food sales growth during Christmas week – 11.5% compared to 8.8% – and alcohol’s 3% growth in the week of New Year outstripped the 3.7% contraction seen in total food sales.
It was sparkling wine and champagne that achieved the highest growth, with fans of fizz spending an extra £15m – or 18% more – during the two weeks than they did in 2014. IRI argued that this reflected a growing market for sparkling wine in the UK, with the segment increasing by 14.5% during the entire year. Sales of beer and lager also grew, by approximately £10.7m during the two weeks to 2 January.
Shoppers spent £20m more on spirits in the two weeks to 2 January than they did in 2014. Sales reached £164m in Christmas week and £70m in New Year week, with total weekly spend during the fortnight almost three times greater than the average for the rest of the year.
IRI’s strategic insight director Tim Eales said: “The major multiples did hold their own to a large extent over the festive period, helped by a strong performance from the beers, wines and spirits categories.
“Long term, the market for alcohol has been falling in the UK, but supermarket sales have risen slightly across 2015 to £12.1bn (+1%), and grew in the final week of the year when most other FMCG categories declined. People are changing where they shop for beer, wine and spirits, buying more from supermarkets and drinking less out of home. This is one area where supermarkets may not lose so much to the discounters – when buying alcohol for a special occasion or a gift, people want a brand name on the bottle.”
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