Volume improved slightly on a sequential basis across wine, spirits and flavored malt beverage categories, while decelerating across hard seltzer in the two-week period ending September 9, according to an analysis of NielsenIQ data by Goldman Sachs Equity Research.
NielsenIQ uses US xAOC (extended All Outlet Combined) including convenience stores to summarize multi-channel markets and aggregate all national cross-outlet market data, and includes certain retailers (such as Whole Foods) that other providers do not.
- Dollar sales were up +3.3% in the two-week period, compared to +3.4% in the four-week period in line with the +3.7% growth in the 12-week period.
- There was a modest pullback in pricing growth, up +5.4% in the two-weeks, compared to +5.5% in the four-week period and +6% in the 12-weeks.
Ready-to-Drink Cocktails
Dollar sales growth continued for spirit-based RTD, up +40.3% in the two-week period, versus +40.7% for the four-weeks and +43.3% for the 12-weeks.
- High Noon experienced robust sales growth, up +44.1% for two-weeks, with its share expanding with volumes up +34.6% and pricing up +7%.
- Cutwater dollar sales were up +32% in the two weeks, with share holding steady and volume up +26.5% and pricing up +4.4%.
- Jack Daniels’ RTD dollar sales were up +197.4% for two-weeks, albeit off a low base, with volumes reporting +193.6% and pricing up +1.3%. Share expanded but slipped a bit sequentially.
- Dogfish Head Cocktail dollar sales sharply accelerated, up +24.2% for the two weeks, versus +7.1% in the four-weeks and +15.3% in the 12-weeks.
- Fresca Mixed Cocktail continued to gain momentum following its recent launch in late 2022 with dollar share continuing to build to and all commodity volume in the mid-20s (compared to High Noon at around +80%.)
Wine-Based Cocktails
Wine-based RTD sales were also up +24.8% for the two-week period, compared to +21.7% in the four-weeks and +13.8% in the 12-weeks.
- BuzzBallz sales were steady up +30.3%, with volume up +23.7% and pricing +5.3%.
- BeatBox was also up +158.9% in sales, with volume up +155.1% and pricing steady at +1.5%.
Flavored Malt Beverages
Category sales growth remained strong, up +18.3% for two-weeks in line with +18.2% in the four-weeks and +18.9% for the 12-weeks.
- Hard Tea was up +42.6% for two-weeks, led by Twisted Tea with sales growth holding steady, up +37.3% for two-weeks and +39.9% for the 12-weeks.
- Hard Lemonade sales declines continued, down -1.3% in the two-week period versus -1.2% in the four-weeks and +0.6% for the 12-weeks. In that category, Simply Spiked showed near-term improvement, up +3.9% for the two-weeks, compared to +2.5% in the four-weeks and +12.9% in the 12-weeks.
- Hard Soda dollar sales accelerated, up +63.3% for two-weeks led by Hard Mtn Dew, up +25.9% in the two-week period versus +19.7% in the four-weeks and +24.1% in the 12-weeks.
Hard Seltzer
The broader deceleration of the hard seltzer category reflects an increasing interest in newer alcoholic beverage categories such as RTDs, according to analysts.
- Category dollar sales growth declines held relatively steady in the most recent period, down -15.3% in the two-week period versus -17.4% for the 12-weeks.
- The Beast Unleashed, launched in January, has achieved a +5.0% dollar share in Nielsen channels in the latest two-week period, compared to +4.8% in the 12-weeks with an all commodity volume of +48% in the latest two weeks.