“Weakness continues” in beverage-alcohol off-premise trends, according to the latest weekly report from market research firm Circana.
Total bev-alc scan data continued to decline in dollars (-3.3%) and volume (-4.8%) for the one-week period ending June 8. Beer and wine recorded “especially” noteworthy losses, Circana EVP BevAl Scott Scanlon wrote.
Beer category dollar sales declined 4%, to $928.5 million, and volume, measured in case sales, declined 5.2%. Wine category losses were steeper – dollars declined 4.7% and volume dropped 5.6%.
Once again, spirits was the only category to record growth, with dollar sales up 1.1% and volume up 3.5%.
Ready-to-drink (RTD) beverages – which represent all three mega categories – were nearly flat in dollar sales (-0.5%) and down 5.2% in volume.
“Upcoming, there is no doubt the current results are disappointing, but the growth brands should be a positive focus,” Scanlon wrote. “Many RTDs remain in hypergrowth phase with little deterioration in growth and [are] likely to further accelerate this summer.
“Beer and wine growth is more concentrated to fewer brands but the ones that are outperforming remain healthy such as: Michelob, Busch, Pacifico, Josh, La Marca, and Duckhorn,” he continued. “Expect continued growth to be maintained/grow within these brands as we bring in the summer months.”
Within the beer category, domestic super premium was a rare bright spot, with 2% year-over-year (YoY) dollar sales growth, alongside hard cider (+0.7%).
Anheuser-Busch InBev-owned (A-B) Michelob Ultra drove the domestic super premium growth (+2.9% in dollars, +3.1% in volume), while Boston Beer’s Angry Orchard contributed to cider’s gains (+4.4% in dollars, +2.8% in volume.)
Other beer category bright spots included:
- A-B’s Busch brand family, +7.1% in dollars, +5% in volume;
- Diageo’s Smirnoff Ice brand family, +4.8% in dollars, +2.4% in volume;
- Constellation Brands’ Pacifico, +17.7% in dollars, +15.1% in volume;
- Geloso’s ClubTails brand family, +6.8% in dollars, +3% in volume;
- Molson Coors’ Topo Chico Hard Seltzer, +3.8% in dollars, +2.1% in volume;
- Constellation’s Victoria brand family, +29% in dollars, 26.8% in volume;
- Athletic brand family, +16% in dollars, +16.1% in volume;
- A-B’s Goose Island brand family, +11.7% in dollars, +7.9% in volume;
- A-B’s Elysian brand family, +7.4% in dollars and +2.6% in volume.
Scanlon called out some RTD brands with explosive growth, including Stateside Vodka’s Surfside (+705.1% in dollars, +736.2% in volume), Sazerac’s BuzzBallz (+88.8% in dollars, +99.7% in volume) and BeatBox (+32.5% in dollars, +29.7% in volume).