RETAIL: Premium Ale / Multi-Packs Punch

Supermarket sales of premium ale have grown this year, driven by the growth of multi-can and bottle pack formats

Premium Ale has enjoyed solid growth this year, driven by all its pack formats.

Growth is primarily being driven by existing buyers, yet there has been small growth in the number of households purchasing this year, as a result of multi-bottle packs penetration growth. Single bottles and multi-can packs have both noticeably grown due to price inflation and an increase in volume purchased. Growth in new buyers has ensured value growth for multi-bottle packs, despite the loss of volume and a lowering of price.

Single bottles of premium ale have not gained buyers overall in the latest year, although this format remains the favourite. All the pack formats gain buyers over Christmas periods, which is not purely driven by promotions. However, this gain tends to drop back down for a few months into the new year. Single-bottle formats are especially susceptible to this trend. Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons combined have over a 60% share of the premium ale sector, with Tesco and Sainsbury’s continuing to growing steadily. In Tesco this performance is strongly led by the over trading of multi-can packs, while Sainsbury’s performance is up due to an overtrade in bottles, especially the multi bottle packs. Asda does not contribute as much value to premium ale as its main competitors, however this retailer does overtrade in single-bottle formats. 

Badger premium ale brands dominate, with three featuring in the top 10, having grown convincingly in the latest year.  Top brand Badger Tanglefoot has successfully moved up five places, while the top performers last year have all moved down to mid table.  Interestingly the top two brands this year, Badger Tanglefoot and Newcastle Brown Ale, have both increased their value share of multi can pack, which has driven this pack format overall.

© db November 2006