Christmas drinks promotions kicked off early last year as supermarkets vied to gain the upper hand in the crucial early trading weeks.
ACNielsen figures released exclusively to The Grocer reveal that key brands slashed supermarket prices as early as mid-November - a month earlier than in 2005 - and they stayed low over the festive period (eight weeks to 30 December).
Stella Artois saw the biggest discounts, winning extensive media coverage for its £20 for two 20x440ml cases deal in Morrisons, - just 11p per 100ml. Other multiples joined in, resulting in value dropping 6% to £98.2m during the period. However, it managed to retain the top spot in ACNielsen's Christmas drinks brand chart.
"Overall, it was a tough Christmas for beer sales with the focus very much on pricing yet again, with supermarket discounting making national headlines," said an Inbev spokesman.
Despite the discounts, the drinks industry as a whole still managed to post a value growth of 2.5% on last year to £2.5bn overall. The multiple grocers managed a 1.9% rise in drinks sales to £1.75bn, while total impulse saw an increase of 3.9% to £731m.
Growth is clearly positive, but at the same time leaves little leverage for those calling for a halt to sustained deep discounting in what is the sector's key trading period.
The biggest category winner was cider and perry, which rose 23% to £89m, almost undoubtedly due to the popularity of Magners. Light and sparkling wine and Champagne also did well, with the latter seeing a 6.6% rise in value.
The biggest losers were FABs, down 15%, and fortified wine, down 5%, continuing their seemingly inexorable decline. Spirits were down 0.6%, while beer stayed flat, gaining 0.9% in the supermarkets and nothing in impulse.
It wasn't a bad year for beer. Carlsberg Standard rose 24.7% to 10th place in the top alcohol brands by value chart - up from 14th last year. Foster's Standard rose 14.7% to third place.
The biggest loser was Anheuser-Busch's Budweiser Premium, which fell 12.9% to £28m. "It is disappointing as our volume was good, but the value was taken out by nearly all major multiples going down the discount route," says UK sales director, Andrew Nethercott.
Of last year's biggest brand losers - Baileys, Stella and The Famous Grouse - only the latter managed a turnaround in its festive fortunes this year, rising 9.7%. Baileys in contrast - which came third in last year's overall brand table despite heavy discounting - posted a 31.2% decline in value from £57m to £39m. This would appear to be a result of a lack of heavy discounting this year, priced as it was at £12.50 a litre,£2.99 more than last year.
Spirits as a whole fell 0.6% to £663m. Only Tesco bucked the trend where spirits was the best-performing category, according to head of BWS, Dan Jago. "I think it was down to the broad range of offers across the price points we had this year," he says.
Wine rose 5.6% in value. E&J Gallo was the best-performing brand in a fragmented category, posting a 12.4% rise to take sixth place in the overall brand league with Blossom Hill the only other wine brand, down 5.9% in value. The single biggest loser was Banrock Station, which lost 45% in value. "The figures look more alarming than they really are as we did have an exceptional Christmas the previous year for Banrock as we'd just launched the Reserve tier, which was heavily promoted," says Dan Townsend, UK trading director, Constellation Brands.
Paul Bastard, wine development manager at The Co-op, says: "Overall, things were positive for wine. There was a wider range of price-point promotions and that's been reflected in the rise in value.
"We sold more wine at £5.99, suggesting people are looking for good value rather than just inexpensive wines."
ACNielsen figures released exclusively to The Grocer reveal that key brands slashed supermarket prices as early as mid-November - a month earlier than in 2005 - and they stayed low over the festive period (eight weeks to 30 December).
Stella Artois saw the biggest discounts, winning extensive media coverage for its £20 for two 20x440ml cases deal in Morrisons, - just 11p per 100ml. Other multiples joined in, resulting in value dropping 6% to £98.2m during the period. However, it managed to retain the top spot in ACNielsen's Christmas drinks brand chart.
"Overall, it was a tough Christmas for beer sales with the focus very much on pricing yet again, with supermarket discounting making national headlines," said an Inbev spokesman.
Despite the discounts, the drinks industry as a whole still managed to post a value growth of 2.5% on last year to £2.5bn overall. The multiple grocers managed a 1.9% rise in drinks sales to £1.75bn, while total impulse saw an increase of 3.9% to £731m.
Growth is clearly positive, but at the same time leaves little leverage for those calling for a halt to sustained deep discounting in what is the sector's key trading period.
The biggest category winner was cider and perry, which rose 23% to £89m, almost undoubtedly due to the popularity of Magners. Light and sparkling wine and Champagne also did well, with the latter seeing a 6.6% rise in value.
The biggest losers were FABs, down 15%, and fortified wine, down 5%, continuing their seemingly inexorable decline. Spirits were down 0.6%, while beer stayed flat, gaining 0.9% in the supermarkets and nothing in impulse.
It wasn't a bad year for beer. Carlsberg Standard rose 24.7% to 10th place in the top alcohol brands by value chart - up from 14th last year. Foster's Standard rose 14.7% to third place.
The biggest loser was Anheuser-Busch's Budweiser Premium, which fell 12.9% to £28m. "It is disappointing as our volume was good, but the value was taken out by nearly all major multiples going down the discount route," says UK sales director, Andrew Nethercott.
Of last year's biggest brand losers - Baileys, Stella and The Famous Grouse - only the latter managed a turnaround in its festive fortunes this year, rising 9.7%. Baileys in contrast - which came third in last year's overall brand table despite heavy discounting - posted a 31.2% decline in value from £57m to £39m. This would appear to be a result of a lack of heavy discounting this year, priced as it was at £12.50 a litre,£2.99 more than last year.
Spirits as a whole fell 0.6% to £663m. Only Tesco bucked the trend where spirits was the best-performing category, according to head of BWS, Dan Jago. "I think it was down to the broad range of offers across the price points we had this year," he says.
Wine rose 5.6% in value. E&J Gallo was the best-performing brand in a fragmented category, posting a 12.4% rise to take sixth place in the overall brand league with Blossom Hill the only other wine brand, down 5.9% in value. The single biggest loser was Banrock Station, which lost 45% in value. "The figures look more alarming than they really are as we did have an exceptional Christmas the previous year for Banrock as we'd just launched the Reserve tier, which was heavily promoted," says Dan Townsend, UK trading director, Constellation Brands.
Paul Bastard, wine development manager at The Co-op, says: "Overall, things were positive for wine. There was a wider range of price-point promotions and that's been reflected in the rise in value.
"We sold more wine at £5.99, suggesting people are looking for good value rather than just inexpensive wines."
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