Off-premise beverage alcohol dollar sales spiked during Christmas week, when they reached a record-high $1.74 billion, but deflated during the last week of the year, market research firm IRI reported.
Week-over-week dollar sales increased +25.7% for total bev-alc for the week ending December 25, but declined -15.1%, to $1.48 billion, for the week ending January 1. Year-over-year dollar sales increased for both weeks – +3.7% through Christmas and +6% through New Year’s Day.
During both holiday weeks, the beer category posted year-over-year increases in dollar sales (+2.2% during Christmas week and +7.2% during New Year’s week), but declines in volume (-5.3% and -1.8%, respectively).
Beer category sales reached $904.8 million at off-premise retailers during the week ending December 25, and $858.7 during the week ending January 1, according to IRI.
The top five brand families to grow YoY in both dollar sales and volume during the week leading up to Christmas were:
- Constellation Brands’ Modelo, +8.2% in dollars, +1.6% in volume;
- Boston Beer’s Twisted Tea, +30.2% in dollars, +19.6% in volume;
- Diageo’s Smirnoff, +6.4% in dollars, +0.3% in volume;
- New Belgium, +25.8% in dollars, +15% in volume;
- Mark Anthony Brands’ Mike’s Harder Lemonade, +13.7% in dollars, +5.5% in volume.
The top five brand families to grow YoY in both dollar sales and volume during the week leading up to New Year’s Day were:
- Modelo, +22.9% in dollars, +15.2% in volume;
- Anheuser-Busch InBev’s Michelob, +9.3% in dollars, +2.6% in volume;
- Constellation Brands’ Corona, +15.7% in dollars, +9.7% in volume;
- Mark Anthony Brands’ White Claw, +7.2% in dollars, +0.7% in volume;
- Boston Beer’s Twisted Tea, +38.2% in dollars, +27.2% in volume.
The ready-to-drink (RTD) segment – in which IRI includes spirits-based canned cocktails, hard seltzers and flavored malt beverages (FMBs) – recorded an +8% increase in dollar sales in the week ending December 25, which accelerated to +12% for the week ending January 1.
Non-alcoholic beer outperformed the category during both selling weeks, with increases of +23% and +22%, respectively, according to IRI.
The grocery channel reached its largest share of bev-alc dollars (47.7%) during the week ending December 25, IRI reported.
“Consumers clearly filled grocery carts with BevAl as they shopped for Christmas dinner,” IRI EVP BevAl vertical Scott Scanlon wrote.
Convenience stores accounted for 32.8% of bev-alc sales, followed by mass retailers (12.6%), club stores excluding Costco (3.7%) and drug stores (3.2%) during the week ending December 25.
Year-to-date through December 25, grocery stores (42.2%) and convenience stores (41.7%) were closer to parity in share of bev-alc dollars, followed by mass retailers (10.5%), drug stores (3%) and club stores excluding Costco (2.7%), according to IRI.
CGA: On-Premise Sales ‘Strong’ During Holidays
On-premise establishments across the U.S. posted double-digit increases during the Christmas and New Year holidays, according to CGA, NielsenIQ’s on-premise division.
“Both Christmas and New Year’s Eve saw the on-premise capitalize on consumers celebrating the festive season in their favorite bars and restaurants, with uplift driven by an increase in check value across Christmas Day while in contrast on New Year’s Eve this was driven by traffic,” CGA regional director for North America Matthew Crompton said in a press release.
“This only reinforces the importance of the channel in consumers’ lives, with our research demonstrating that the on-premise is a key priority for social and celebratory occasions.”
Sales velocity increased on December 25 (+42%) and December 26 (+28%) at on-premise outlets nationwide, CGA reported.
On-premise sales velocity also increased on December 31 (+35%) across the five states CGA tracks more closely (California, Florida, Illinois, New York and Texas), but the gains were “driven by traffic, with check value slightly negative,” CGA said.