Firmly embedded in the off-trade section of any licensed store, cider may be a year-round favourite, but much like soft drinks, a spike in temperature makes cider all the more appealing. Are you ready to make it count?
After emerging as a serious part of the off-trade mix a number of years back cider continues to reinvent itself, introducing a host of new flavoured drinks, while continuing to heavily promote more traditional brands. For retailers, it is important to have a wide range of ciders that encompasses new and old. The focus however, must remain on the major sellers – and that’s especially true in summer, when sales peak. Strongbow, the UK’s leading cider brand has volume sales 35% larger than the top four ‘Modern Cider’ brands put together and has 85% volume share and 87% value share of the ‘Everyday Cider’ segment.
That said, Heineken UK says that most of the overall category growth is coming from new Modern flavoured ciders, which have grown 131% in the off-trade over the last year. Martin Porter, Sales Director, Heineken UK says: “The flavoured segment is one that Strongbow did not enter until July 2012 when we launched Strongbow Pear. Since this launch, Strongbow Pear has been hugely successful and is driving new consumers into both the brand and category.”
In addition to the launch of Strongbow Pear, Strongbow Original has recently undergone a transformation, as well as seeing increased media spend.
Heineken has also been busy in what Porter calls modern flavoured ciders, which he says is bringing new and old shoppers into the category. “The Bulmers brand has grown its portfolio and strengthened its share of the modern cider market through marketing, innovation and NPD on the back of extensive shopper research,” he says. “Activity such as the series of Vintage Reserve products including Bulmers Crisp Blend and the new permanent Bulmers No17, now renamed Crushed Red Berries & Lime, has ensured Bulmers stand out within the marketplace. Bulmers Crushed Red Berries & Lime, was launched last summer and meets the sustained shopper demand for fruit flavoured ciders and has been a major success becoming the now the number two flavoured cider.”
Bulmers recently launched Bold Black Cherry and Pressed Red Grape ciders to its range, appealing to shoppers with a “need for experimentation” to drive incremental value.
While much of the focus in the current market is on new products and new flavours, there is still strong demand for ‘heritage cider’ such as Merrydown.
“There has been an increase in the number of people consuming cider – 60% of adults now drink cider, up from 47% last year – but what often gets over-looked is the fact that almost two-thirds of cider is still consumed by the over 35 age group,” says Amanda Grabham, Head of Brand Marketing – Merrydown Cider. “This means that they outnumber 18 to 30-year-old purchasers by around 2:1, but this isn’t reflected in the range of ciders on offer as retailers have put more and more emphasis on new brands which are by and large aimed at younger adults. Space limitations mean that these new lines have often been included at the expense of well-established brands.”
Grabham says that importance of stocking heritage brands like Merrydown, Westons, Thatchers and Aspall is often under-estimated by independent retailers.
“Heritage brands play a very different role from mainstream ciders as they are being sought out by cider consumers who are looking for quality cues such as the taste profile of the In terms of identifying the trends which are driving the performance,” Grabham says.
Merrydown recommends that 40% of cider space should be allocated to glass bottles; 30% to cans; and the other 30% to PETs. And although the firm says retailers should devote more space to glass bottles Merrydown cans are proving to be successful in impulse stores where they are available as the number of ‘heritage’ cider brands available in cans is very limited.
Grabham says: “On store visits we do still see a fair number of independent retailers giving too much focus to white ciders and this approach isn’t delivering the greatest return from their shelf space. Our advice is simply to keep a very basic white cider range. Three facings – a 2-litre bottle; a 1-litre bottle; and a can 4-pack to satisfy different requirements should be ample.”
Tropical touch
Gaymers has launched Gaymers Tropical Cider, the fifth addition to its existing range of fruity ciders. The new flavour, which comes in 500ml bottles, blends pineapple, mango and passionfruit flavours with crisp pear cider.
The relaunch of the brand’s popular cider range in 2012 saw Gaymers take on a new visual design, employed to convey the nature of the brand and strengthen the product’s appeal to the Gaymers target audience. In the last six months since the relaunch, Gaymers has seen a 67% year-on-year growth in off-trade sales . The new Tropical variant launches with a design in-keeping with the brand’s new visual, joining the rest of the range to provide a flavour for every occasion.
Over the last year, the flavoured cider category has seen a 61% growth in off-trade sales. In the last two years, it has more than doubled. It now accounts for 8% of the off-trade cider sales in the UK by volume and almost 15% by value.
Victoria Walker, Head of Innovation for Gaymers Cider says: “Following the relaunch and the addition of two new flavours to the Gaymers range last year, we’re very excited to release Gaymers Tropical Cider. The flavoured cider category is seeing massive growth in off-trade sales and Gaymers is following this trend.”
Heineken’s cider tips
Heineken launched Star Retailer last year, a three year trade support programme designed to help raise the standards of beer and cider retailing within the convenience channel. Following an 18 month period spent working with a significant number of convenience retailers, the programme includes tried and tested principles that will help retailers increase their sales of beer and cider by, on average, 12% and up to as much as 20%. The Star Retailer principles will be consistently delivered across all of the company’s communications, from a newly launched trade website starretailer.co.uk.
- Range – The top ten packs account for over 34% of total category sales, demonstrating the importance of stocking big brands
- Category – 30% of lost sales are due to shoppers not being able to find what they want. Group similar products next to each other
- Merchandising – Put top products on more facings then slower sellers to help maintain stocks and ensure key brands are visible.
