Lager weathers the storms
It was a bad summer for beer, but the sports fan's favourite is still managing to grow
The bad weather and lack of summer sports tournaments should have hit lager harder than any other sector - in fact it was the only part of the beer market in growth, edging sales up 0.6 per cent.
Then again, with an 83 per cent share of the total beer market, it has room to manoeuvre.
At the top of the charts things are looking pretty much the same as last year - just a little glummer.
Stella Artois actually did a little better , losing 5 per cent of sales compared to the 6 per cent drop in 2005-6. Owner InBev UK will be hoping that a new TV ad for the brand, launched last week to run until Christmas, can finally turn its fortunes around.
Stella may be losing sales, but with a 16 per cent share of the total beer market and 19 per cent of lager at £518 million, it does not have any serious rivals for the top spot. Carling, in second place in both leagues, has 11 per cent of the beer market and 13 per cent of lager - but its sales slumped 3 per cent to £361 million.
Coors portfolio activation director David Wigham says the weather has been the biggest influence on the poor performance of its flagship brand - but also blames Carling's pricing strategy. "We tread a careful line between price and volume. We haven't been involved in any discounting, and as a consequence we have lost some volume share," he says.
Carling's closest rival, Scottish & Newcastle UK's Foster's, is still holding strong with sales up 5 per cent to £322 million. It grew its share of the lager market to 12 per cent, not that far off Carling's.
Foster's S&N stablemate Kronenbourg 1664 did less well, losing 5 per cent of its value and being overtaken by Carlsberg Export. The brand has recently been repositioned to promote it as a good food match, and S&N is hoping to drive sales of all its brands through a new category plan, which sees beers merchandised according to the type of customers drinking them.
Meanwhile Carlsberg (+17%) and Carlsberg Export (+7%) are doing consistently well, perhaps thanks to the ongoing, popular If Carlsberg Did ... ad campaign.
Budweiser's sales slumped 8 per cent to £151 million, despite its innovative web-based Bud Bucks campaign, in which drinkers can win prizes, bid in auctions and play games online. The campaign is targeted at the younger end of Bud's target audience, so maybe it will pay dividends in the future.
While the top 10 remained virtually static compared to last year, there's been a lot of movement further down the charts. Castlemaine XXXX saw a massive 39 per cent sales decline, and Miller Beer - a brand that falls outside the Miller Brands portfolio and seems to be maintaining its own momentum, such as it is - saw sales slide 28 per cent.
Peroni Nastro Azzuro, meanwhile - which does fall into the Miller Brands camp - boosted its sales by a huge 40 per cent to £23 million. It could be that the brand's high-profile association with fashion is paying off, or it could be thanks to its visibility in Italian restaurants.
Another star turn came from Corona, which grew sales by 23 per cent to £21 million.
Off-trade market value
Week ending Oct 6 2007: £ 2.73bn
Week ending Oct 7 2006: £ 2.71bn
Change: 0.6%
