Prosecco has burst Champagne’s bubble with booming sales despite a 7% post-Brexit drop in posh fizz prices.
UK Prosecco sales grew 25.3% to £454.7m, boosted by an average 0.4% price increase, on volumes up 24.8% compared with a minor 0.2% increase for Champagne on volumes up just 1.5%, according to exclusive IRI data for The Grocer [52 w/e 8 October 2016].
The leap in sales has seen the darling of the sparkling wine aisle reaching nearly double the UK value of Champagne during the past two years. In comparison, since October 2014 Champagne has added less than £10m to its value to £252.6m [IRI].
And its not just Brits reaching for the lower-cost bubbles, with Champagne sales “slowing significantly” across most of Europe, said Tim Eales, insight director at IRI.
“Prosecco continues to grow and grow in almost every market apart from the Netherlands, and although Champagne is still outstripping its poorer cousin with almost double the overall market value - worth €1.4bn across Europe while Prosecco hit €789m - the figures show that Prosecco continues to be the fizzy drink of choice with 77 million litres bought - 25% more than Champagne,” he said.
And, in stark contrast to a 24% Prosecco value growth on a 23% volume hike across Europe, Champagne sales were up just 0.9% on volumes down 0.3% in litres.
Even Cava, which seemed to fall out of favour with the rise in popularity of Prosecco, has seen value and volume increases in most countries this year. In the past year, UK sales grew by nearly £10m to £25.5m.
Brits’ dwindling thirst for Champagne is despite the price falling 7%, compared with an annual 3% drop) since the Brexit June referendum, driven by a flurry of promotional activity [IRI].
No comments yet