Continuing to cycle the tough comps of 2020’s pandemic stock-up period, off-premise dollar sales of alcoholic beverages declined 1.3% for the week ending March 27, compared to the same week last year, according to market research firm NielsenIQ.
“Despite declines compared to last year, dollar sales for off-premise alcohol remain far above the normal range,” NielsenIQ VP of beverage alcohol practice Danelle Kosmal noted in an update on retail scans. “When comparing the latest dollar sales to the same week two years ago in 2019, total off-premise alcohol is up 23%, with spirits up 37%, wine up 21%, and beer/FMB/cider up 18%.”
The second half of March 2020 included historically high off-premise beer sales, as consumers stockpiled their pantries and fridges in preparation for nationwide safer-at-home orders to stop the spread of COVID-19. Kosmal explained during a recent episode of the Brewbound podcast that declines in comparison to 2020 will be the norm as the calendar cycles a year of elevated off-premise sales, and may even increase as the on-premise channel begins to reopen, giving drinkers another consumption option after more than a year of at-home consumption. For that reason, comparisons to 2019 sales and examinations of dollar share may be better indicators of category performance, she explained.
Compared to 2020, however, beer category off-premise dollar sales declined 1% for the week ending March 27. Dollar sales of core beer — the category adjusted to remove non-beer offerings such as hard seltzers — declined by 4% compared to the same week last year. Compared to the same week in 2019, dollar sales of core beer increased 8%.
The beer category’s segments were evenly split between those in decline and those showing growth. Segments with declining sales included premium lights (-7.6%), below premiums (-12.1%), cider (-11.7%), craft (-6.5%) and flavored malt beverages excluding hard seltzer (-7.1%). Dollar sales of super premiums were roughly flat (+0.3%).
Dollar sales of imports (+9.5%) and hard seltzers (+27.8%) increased, but lagged behind overall beer category growth compared to 2019. Only hard tea (+44.1%) and non-alcoholic beer (+41%) outpaced the category in comparison to 2019.
Overall grocery channel sales declined 16% compared to the same week last year, which was part of the stock up shopping shift caused by the pandemic. The convenience channel (+8.8%) and liquor channel (+8.7%) both increased sales compared to the same week last year.
For the four weeks ending March 27, total beer category off-premise dollar sales declined 2.2% compared to the same three-month period in 2020. Year-to-date through March 27, beer dollar sales are up 7.2% compared in comparison to the first three months of 2020.
The only manufacturer with significant sales increases during the four-week period ending March 27 was the Boston Beer Company (+31.8%), driven by its Truly Hard Seltzer (+70.3%) and Twisted Tea (42.6%) brands, which were both growth leaders in their respective segments. For the first three months of 2021, portfolio-wide dollar sales of Boston Beer offerings increased 49.2% compared to the same period last year.
No other supplier neared Boston Beer’s growth over the last month or the year-to-date:
- Anheuser-Busch InBev (-5.2% L4W, +2.7% YTD);
- Molson Coors (-9.7% L4W, -0.5% YTD);
- Constellation Brands (+6% L4W, +12.7% YTD);
- Pabst Brewing (-10.4% L4W, +0.2% YTD);
- Heineken USA (-1.9% L4W, +4.4% YTD);
- Diageo (+0.1% L4W, +6.6% YTD);
- Mark Anthony Brands (+2.4% L4W, +20.6% YTD);
- FIFCO USA (-4.2% L4W, +7.1% YTD);
- All other manufacturers (-1.5% L4W, +12.6% YTD).
In the craft beer segment, New Belgium was the only leading brand to buck the segment’s -7.6% trend over the last month. Portfolio-wide dollar sales of the Lion Little World-owned, Fort Collins, Colorado-headquartered craft brewery’s offerings increased 10.4% compared to the same period last year. Year-to-date through March 27, New Belgium’s off-premise dollar sales increased 27.3%.
In fact, New Belgium was the only craft brand to grow sales in the latest four weeks. Sierra Nevada was roughly flat, down 1%, over the last month. However, dollar sales of the Chico, California-headquartered craft brewery’s products increased 11.1% year-to-date.
Dollar sales of Molson Coors-owned Blue Moon, the nation’s top-selling craft brand according to NielsenIQ, declined 11.8% for the four weeks ending March 27, but are up 5.1% year-to-date. Heineken-owned Lagunitas declined 9.6% for the four weeks ending March 27, but are up 1.7% year-to-date. Boston Beer’s Samuel Adams was the only leading craft brand to decline in both the latest four-week period (-21.4%) and year-to-date (-4.3%).
Boston Beer’s performance in the hard seltzer segment told a much different story. Truly sales increased 70.3% and 104.3% in the latest four week and year-to-date periods, respectively. The only other hard seltzer brand to grow during both periods was A-B’s Bud Light Seltzer, which increased dollar sales 38.2% over the last month and 69.2% year-to-date.
Dollar sales of Mark Anthony’s White Claw, the segment leader, declined 4.5% for the latest four-week period Year-to-date, White Claw’s dollar sales are up 18.3%.
Diageo-owned Smirnoff Hard Seltzer’s dollar sales declined 25.3% for the four weeks ending March 27 and are up 1.7% year-to-date.
Dollar sales of Constellation Brands’ Corona Hard Seltzer, which launched nationwide in early March 2020, declined 24.3% over the last month. Year-to-date through March 27, Corona Hard Seltzer dollar sales increased 128.2%, cycling sales in pre-launch markets.