Think crafty, think craft

Beer and cider continue to act as a cornerstone to the convenience market, with craft beer in particular giving the category a boost.

by Elena Dimama

Beer and cider enjoyed a welcome boost in the final quarter of year, as a result of the Fifa World Cup taking place just a few weeks before Christmas.

According to Kantar Worldpanel, beer was the only alcohol category in growth (+1.8%) year-on-year over the same period. However, the trend seems to be slowing down slightly, as price increases and inflation start to bite, with total beer down in value per moving annual total.

However, craft beer seems to be helping the category stay on a more positive note.

“When we look at Craft Beer the category has declined at a slower rate (-10%) than Total Beer (-12.3%), taking its overall market share to 6.6% (+0.2% vs YA),” Miriam Thompson, Off-Trade Category Marketing Executive for BrewDog, said. “And at a brand level, BrewDog is outperforming Total Craft at -4.9% vs -14.7%, taking its share to 50%.”

Craft beer has also enjoyed distribution growth in the total impulse channel, up 0.5%, taking its share to 65%, with the brand’s Hazy Jane, Lost Lager and BrewDog’s Mixed multipack entering the top 10 craft beer SKUs in the last quarter – achieving £500,000 more in value sales (up 26.9%).

Scottish win

Craft beer is performing well in the impulse market in Scotland, up 5.8% vs total beer in value year-on-year, according to Nielsen.

What’s more, Scotland over-indexes for craft beer compared to other areas of the UK, meaning a big opportunity for Scottish retailers to boost sales.

“BrewDog brands have also had a great year in Scottish impulse, particularly Lost Lager which is up +38% amid a declining lager category (Value vs YA),” Thompson adds. “Punk IPA is now the #1 craft beer in Scotland up +3.6% vs YA overtaking the previous leader, and Hazy Jane is also +24.9% vs YA.”

The premium advantage

Premium beers are also an area of opportunity for the convenience market, as consumers seem willing to spend more to treat themselves to better quality beer and cider options.

“At KBE, we recently surveyed over 400 lager drinkers and a third of them said that the key factor in choosing a brand of lager in a pub is that they are looking for ‘something new and different’,” says John Price, Head of Marketing at KBE Drinks.

“These drinkers are not currently being looked after in the ‘Premium 4%’ segment, as there’s been much less NPD than in ‘World Lager’, and this is why we repositioned our Kingfisher brand last summer to exactly meet this consumer need.

“Obviously, Kingfisher isn’t new, having been around in the UK since the 1970s, but it is novel to the off-trade, with a crisp and easy-drinking taste that consumers already love, and at 4.3% it meets the needs of this segment.”

Quality is also a key trend observed by Brewdog. “We know quality (66%), taste (50%) and range (45%) are the top drivers to purchasing BrewDog, with Well Priced at 29%,” Thompson notes. “We expect these to remain a priority as consumer behaviour changes and they cut back in other areas of their lives, reducing overall store spend in-store.”

Counting on multi-packs

With the cost-of-living crisis, shoppers are expected to look for alternative, more cost-effective formats. Multipacks can once more come to the rescue, being already a key growth driver for the category.

“To succeed during this time, the focus needs to be on the format. At BrewDog, we have a full range of pack sizes from 4-packs through to 12-packs, enabling us to meet all shoppers’ needs and fit all budgets,” Thompson explains. “Our BrewDog Mixed Packs have also been an important recruitment tool for the category. Our research shows that 50% of first-time purchases come from multi-packs, and larger mixed formats significantly over-index with first-time buyers.”