C&C Group has discontinued production of Magners flavoured ciders to re-focus on the original apple variant.
Production of Magners’ flavoured portfolio stopped six months ago, with the final batches expected to disappear from shelves during the next six months, C&C Group COO Mark Boulos told The Grocer.
“We are really, absolutely focused on Magners Original. That’s all we care about, so everything around the sides is noise and is gradually being delisted.”
The move followed 12 months of strategic planning to determine “where we want to place the brand in the market”, said Boulos. “We had the option of going down a craft route, which Magners could credibly claim, or we could go down the more mainstream route.”
C&C hoped turning away from flavours would help Magners become the number two in apple cider, he added.
“We want to really go after 18 to 35-year-olds, predominantly male drinkers who, if you look at all the stats for the past five years, have sort of forgotten about cider or migrated to flavour.”
Sales of Magners, the fourth-biggest cider, have fallen 10.8% to £50.9m with volumes down 4% [IRI 52 w/e 26 March 2016]. Third-ranked Bulmers slumped 15.8% to £68m on volumes down 14%. Flavour-focused Kopparberg - second to market leader Strongbow - grew 19.4% to £126.6m on volumes up 23.9%.Total category sales fell 1.5% on volumes down 2.3%.
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