CGA’s Graeme Loudon gave the recent Drink Tank conference an overview of big developments in the beer market. Here are five of the top takeaways.
1 Half the country now drinks beer out-of-home
CGA’s BrandTrack data shows that beer remains our national drink, with nearly half (48%) of all British adults now drinking it out-of-home. That’s 23 million people—and the number has gone up by 8% over the last year, which shows the on-trade is doing a good job in recruiting new drinkers to the category.
2 Premiumisation goes on
Our On Premise Measurement service shows that while the volume of beer sales has slipped 0.7% in the last 12 months, their value has nudged up 2.4%. This indicates that consumers are drinking slightly less beer, but spending more when they do so—a reflection of the premiumisation trend across drinking-out.
3 Growth in stout and world lager
Stout is a notable hotspot in beer at the moment, its sales by value up by 6.2% in the last 12 months. The world lager category has been another winner in 2019: volumes are up 6.8% and nearly 60,000 outlets stock it now.
4 Maturation in the craft market
Craft is one of beer’s biggest success stories, having added 1.9 million new consumers in the last three years. But our consumer research shows that it is an ageing category, and MATCH segmentation tools indicate that half of drinkers sit in just three consumer groups. The craft boom is far from over, but the challenge is to get the quality, range and price spot on.
5 Health driving no and low sales
As we have been noting for a while now, consumers’ growing interest in health and moderation is pushing up sales of no and low alcohol drinks. More than five million people have drunk a no or low alcohol beer in the last six months, and distribution has increased by 7% in just 12 months. It’s still a relatively small category, but since younger consumers are much more likely to find it appealing, it looks set for more growth in the years ahead.
For more deep insights into the beer category, contact Graeme Loudon.
