Price cuts hit beer as cider sales go flat

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strongbow cloudy apple

Top launch: Strongbow Cloudy Apple - Heineken

Clouds - they’re mysterious, moody, and a little impenetrable. Those were associations Heineken was hoping to prompt when it rolled out this brand extension, designed to retain slightly older consumers seeking a more sophisticated drink. Heineken spent £8m on the launch, declaring it would be the year’s biggest, and it has two big things going for it: the brand’s track record - it follows 2013’s Dark Fruit, now the second best-selling cider after core Strongbow - and demand for traditional styles.

It’s all gone pear shaped in cider. Once the category darling, cider shrunk by value and volume, with the top five pear-flavoured drinks in double-digit decline, and many apple ciders also down, including Stella Artois Cidre, down 29.9% from third place to ninth. Owner AB InBev blames the poor summer, an abundance of NPD, and other sweet variants that made Stella’s Raspberry flavour among the fastest growers (up 30% to £9.4m).

Kopparberg, ideally positioned for sweeter tastebuds, has taken two top-five spots by focusing on its “big hitters”, says senior brand manager Jodie Alliss and “avoiding the flavour conveyor belt”. The £14.2m growth in Strongbow Dark Fruits more than compensated for the drop in apple. And Henry Westons Vintage (up 19.4% to £25.6m) and Thatchers Gold (up 37.8% to £21.8m) shows there is demand for traditional apple ciders.

Overall lager volumes are static but prices have fallen for almost every major brand as a result of increased deals on large packs, and Tesco and Asda price-matching Aldi and Lidl, says Nielsen analyst Jon Sheppard.

In the case of standard lager, the top three brands are taking a strategic gamble on how to add value to its offer. For Foster’s, this has included the launch of rum flavour variant Foster’s Rocks, while Carling has offered another huge footie-related on-pack giveaway. Carlsberg will be hoping the relaunch of its popular If Carlsberg Did… campaign can mitigate some of the effects of being delisted by Tesco in September.

Ales have also been hit by deflation, with Old Speckled Hen recording volume growth of 10.7%, but with average price down 8.5%. “The most positive aspect is that it has been fuelled by new consumers,” says Greene King’s take-home sales director Neil Jardine.

Almost half the category’s growth has come from Sharp’s Doom Bar, up 77.2% to £17.5m. Another barnstormer is BrewDog’s Punk IPA, which has doubled sales, and is now one of the top 20 ale brands. And Diageo attributes the return to growth of Guinness Draft partly to the halo effect of its Dublin Porter and West Indies Porter. Both are now top 50 ales.

TOP 5 Lager				SALES
				£m	change (£m)	change (%)
Total volume change: 0.3%			Total Category	3,081.60	–21.2	–0.7
			Total Own Label	65.9	–11.3	–14.7
1	1	Stella Artois	AB InBev	472.4	17.4	3.8
2	2	Foster’s	Heineken UK	394.6	–31.9	–7.5
3	4	Budweiser	AB InBev	301.8	4.3	1.4
4	3	Carling	Molson Coors (UK)	298.7	–12.4	–4.0
5	5	Carlsberg	Carlsberg UK	206.7	–17.1	–7.6

TOP 5 Ale & stout				SALES
				£m	change (£m)	change (%)
Total volume change: –0.6%			Total Category	649.4	19.3	3.1
			Total Own Label	20.7	0.1	0.5
1	1	John Smith’s Extra Smooth	Heineken UK	70.4	–4.3	–5.7
2	2	Guinness Draught	Diageo	66.3	1.6	2.4
3	3	Old Speckled Hen	Greene King	44.9	0.6	1.3
4	4	Guinness Original	Diageo	19.8	–1.8	–8.1
5	6	Hobgoblin	Marston’s	19.6	1.5	8.1

TOP 5 Cider & perry				SALES
				£m	change (£m)	change (%)
Total volume change: –3.2%			Total Category	1,037.20	–29.4	–2.8
			Total Own Label	52.6	–11.2	–17.5
1	1	Strongbow Original	Heineken UK	201.30	–8.7	–4.1
2	6	Strongbow Dark Fruit	Heineken UK	60.8	14.2	30.5
3	4	Kopparberg Mixed Fruit Cider	Cider of Sweden	49.7	1.4	2.9
4	9	Kopparberg Strawb & Lime	Cider of Sweden	41.7	7.2	20.8
5	7	Frosty Jack’s	Aston Manor	40.9	–3.9	–8.7