Diageo is looking to replicate the runaway success of Gordon’s Pink Gin in the RTD can market with the launch of Gordon’s Pink Gin & Schweppes Tonic premixes.
The 250ml cans launched into Morrisons last week with an abv of 5% (rsp: £1.87).
Diageo was not available to comment at the time of going to press, and it is unclear whether further listings have been secured at this stage.
Head of Gordon’s Annalisa Tedeschi previously said pink gins had “a huge opportunity for success” in the UK, based on their success in the flourishing Spanish gin market, where they were responsible for a huge portion of total gin sales.
Gordon’s Pink has proved one of the spirits sector’s biggest success stories since launching into Tesco last summer (it rolled out to the other mults in October).
It repeatedly sold out during the exclusivity period and racked up £17.1m in value sales – over 820,000 litres – by the end of 2017, making it the UK’s sixth bestselling gin in retail [Nielsen 52 w/e 30 December 2017].
The launch comes as canned RTDs are outselling traditional bottled ‘alcopops’. Shoppers are opting for posher premixes: the likes of Gordon’s Gin & Tonic (up 20.6% to £16.6m), Jack Daniel’s & Cola (up 10.3% to £21m) and Greenall’s & Pink Grapefruit (up 136.6% to £1.5m) made serious gains in 2017, while sales of the category’s biggest brand, WKD, fell £2.9m (7%) to £38m, while Carribbean Twist fell 13.5% to £5.8m. Hooch is in growth thanks to its Hula Hooch variant (up 295.5% to £584k), but its flagship Hooch SKU (down 3.8% to £4.2m) has suffered [Nielsen 52 w/e 9 September 2017].
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