In any other year, 10 consecutive weeks of billion dollar off-premise beer category sales would be eye-opening.
Consider that in all of 2019, there was just one week — the week of the July 4 holiday — in which beer category off-premise dollar sales topped $1 billion. Now, it’s a footnote in weekly reports.
We all know the reason why: A global pandemic has wiped out sales in on-premise bars and restaurants in large swaths of the country.
Nevertheless, here we go again. Off-premise beer category dollar sales for the one-week period ending July 25 were up 14.7%, to $1.036 billion, according to market research firm Nielsen. That’s 10 weeks of billion-dollar sales in the books.
Impressive, right? Speaking of streaks, the week ending July 25 marked the tenth consecutive week in which off-premise dollar sales of hard seltzers surpassed the $100 million mark.
The success story of the summer remains hard seltzers. Dollar sales for the hard seltzer segment were up 132%. This all comes in the face of tough comps, Nielsen VP of beverage alcohol practice Danelle Kosmal told Brewbound.
“The year-ago week comparison was the eighth largest week of 2019 for hard seltzers in off-premise channels,” she wrote. “Each week of August in 2019 was even bigger than that, so we will continue to have tough comps through Labor Day. That said, having growth rates above 100%, particularly with tough comps is pretty good.”
Pretty good indeed. In fact, hard seltzers’ share of the beer category is now at 10.5%, just below craft beer’s dollar share (11.7%).
Driving much of those trends are variety packs. In 2019, variety packs accounted for 63% of hard seltzer dollar sales, Kosmal noted in her weekly report. That trend has continued through the COVID-19 period, and variety packs have made up 68% of hard seltzer off-premise dollar sales through the COVID-19 period (March through July 25).
“We should also note the importance that larger pack sizes have played during the pandemic, including 12-packs, which are predominantly assorted packs in seltzers,” she wrote. “If more hard seltzer suppliers begin to launch single flavors in 12-packs, it will be interesting to see if dollars begin to shift towards some individual flavors.”
Where there is movement in seltzer is among flavors. Kosmal acknowledged there has been “a slight shift” in share among hard seltzer flavors, as cherry and berry flavors have lost share to mango, pineapple, and fruit combinations.
Other beer category segments didn’t show much change week over week. Super premiums were up 19.7% in Nielsen’s off-premise channels, driven by Anheuser-Busch’s Michelob Ultra, Nielsen reported. Craft beer dollar sales increased 12.8%, driven by national brands. The top five craft growth brand extensions for over the last week were Blue Moon Light Sky (Molson Coors), Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing IPA, Blue Moon Belgian White (Molson Coors), New Belgium Voodoo Ranger Imperial IPA (Lion Little World Beverages) and Lagunitas IPA (Heineken).
The growth rate for FMBs slowed to +4% for the latest week, while premium lights were up +6.2% and below premium brands were flat, Nielsen reported. However, non-alcoholic beer sales increased 40% compared to the same week one year ago.
Total alcohol dollar sales in Nielsen tracked off-premise channels were up 18.6% for the week ending July 25, led by spirits (+31%) and wine (+18.2%). Core beer (excluding hard seltzers, FMBs, etc.) dollar sales for the week were up 8.1%.
Year-to-date through July 25, beer category off-premise dollar sales are up 15.8%, to $27 billion.
The Link LonkAugust 04, 2020 at 03:01AM
https://www.brewbound.com/news/nielsen-hard-seltzers-cross-100-million-mark-for-10th-consecutive-week
Nielsen: Hard Seltzers Cross $100 Million Mark for 10th Consecutive Week - Brewbound.com
https://news.google.com/search?q=hard&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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