Alcohol sales in UK grocery retailers have grown over the four weeks to 13 August, buoyed by the start of the Olympics, according to the latest retail performance data released by Nielsen.
The four weeks to 13 August saw overall beer and cider volumes rise by 4.7% on the same period in 2015, while value sales were up even more at 6.9%. The increase represents an additional £27 million spent at tills, or the equivalent of over 15 million extra pints, Nielsen said.
“What’s encouraging to see is that this [growth] has helped boost overall 52-week performance – with lager now growing over the year – value ahead of volume (+1.2% and +1.1% respectively),” said Jon Sheppard, Nielsen’s client business partner. “Furthermore, this is also helping to recover some of the cider declines we’ve seen of late with the yearly level of volume drop halved due to just these four weeks.”
Ale also posted a very strong performance over the four weeks, achieving 4.2% growth in volume; that’s just behind lager, which rose by 4.3%. But hot conditions in July and August helped cider, which posted impressive uplifts of 6.2% in volume and 8.4% in value, Nielsen added.
“It’s safe to say that both retailers and brewers alike will be pleased with this recent sales performance,” Sheppard added. “20 out of the top 30 brands grew faster than their yearly average and, whilst this growth was driven by the grocery multiples, impulse retailers saw the four-weeks sales in the black versus last year, after a generally torrid year for the channel.”
The four-week period added £2.8 million more than the four weeks leading up to the European Football Championships, primarily due to the additional cider sales; lager and ale uplifts were very comparable across the periods.
Olympic fever: the four weeks in full
Growth in volume terms, unless otherwise noted.
Beer and cider (+4.7%) Ales (+4.2%) Lager (+4.3%) Cider (+6.2%) Champagne (+4.9% value) Sparkling wine (+13.9% value) Soft drinks and water (+8.9%)
Sheppard continued: “In fact, this was the strongest four-weeks sales rise in the summer that wasn’t football related since the now-fabled heatwave of July 2013 when volume sales rose by 27%.”
Outside of beer and cider, champagne saw sales rise by 4.9% in value terms (faster than the 52 weeks), and sparkling wine continued its double-digit growth with value up 13.9% compared to last year. Light wine and spirits both suffered, but soft drinks – including water – were up 8.9% in volume terms. Water accounted for more than half of that growth with volumes up 19% on last year, Nielsen said.
Sheppard concluded: “With the recent good spell of weather set to continue into next weekend, consumer confidence flat and the country’s mood boosted by Team GB’s success in Rio, the summer certainly isn’t over and these sales could rise even further. This would be a welcome boost, after an early summer tainted by a rainy June and England’s early departure from Euro 2016.”
© FoodBev Media Ltd 2024