Seasonal: Festive fun World Cup

Kick-off nears for epic Christmas

The FIFA World Cup is set to add even more sparkle to this year’s already exciting Christmas opportunity.

GET READY FOR THE BIG ONE!

Tues, 29th Nov 7pm

The FIFA World Cup Final may be considered as the biggest single football match on the planet, but for many of your customers, the biggest match of all will be the home nations clash between England and Wales.

The mouth-watering clash is set to bring the two nations in what could be a massively important game for both teams as the match will the final one for both teams in the early stages of the tournament.

The result could decide who progresses to the next stage and who heads home from Qatar.

With so much at stake, the game is highly likely to drive huge footfall to local pubs and clubs, so make sure you are ready to take full advantage. We all know how hard the last few years have been on the trade, so it makes a welcome change to have the prospect of a few months of outstanding opportunity ahead of us. Christmas is always a great trading period, but a little extra spice will be added to the festive period this year by the FIFA World Cup with the first match due to kick-off in Qatar on November 20th.

Clearly, most interest will be generated by the matches involving the home nations who have made it to the finals – England and Wales – but most matches are likely to generate footfall and sales. Likely to be particularly popular are the important ones like the first match, the semi-finals and, of course, the final itself on December 18th.

And let’s not forget the home nations clash on November 29th when Wales take on England!

And who knows, if England or Wales manage to go all the way to the fi nal, it could be a day to remember for the trade as every pub, club or restaurant with a TV is sure to be packed to the rafters.

Even if the home nations don’t make the latter stages, however, there is still bound to be huge excitement around the competition and that’s certain to translate into busy venues and a spike in sales throughout the entire month of the global festival of football.

And all of that is before we even start thinking about traditional Christmas celebrations that are likely to see people heading out and enjoying the fi rst ‘normal’ festive period in three years.

The stage is set – now all that you need to do is get your plans in place to squeeze every penny of profi t out of this unique opportunity.

TREND TRACKER

While it seems probable that the trade is set to enjoy a bumper winter, it still makes sense to make sure that you are off ering your customers exactly what they will be looking for, which means keeping an eye on the latest trends. To help you do that, we’ve looked at some of the trends that are likely to be driving sales this festive period.

GET ROCKING WITH RUDOLPH

With Christmas in

the air and a football frenzy sweeping the nation, there’s no easier and more profi table way to add some sparkle to your bar than by stocking Rocking Rudolph, the biggest-selling Christmas ale for the last six years!

Rocking Rudolph features an eye-catching and attention-grabbing fl ashing pump clip and is even available in football-themed version.

BEER

Let’s face it, beer has never gone out of fashion and it’s likely to be as popular as ever this Christmas as football fans fl ock to their local to take in the spectacle of the FIFA World Cup.

Stocking a great range of beers that helps you appeal to the widest range of drinkers and, in particular, to your own customer bases is obviously key here.

Greene King off ers a fantastic range of products such as Greene King IPA, Abbott Ale and Old Speckled Hen that will appeal to the committed beer drinkers among your customers and those in search of deep, full fl avours.

To appeal to craft beer drinkers, however, It’s also worth considering Greene King’s two latest launches: Flint Eye and Level Head. These two beers represent Greene King’s latest foray into the craft beer arena and could help attract a diff erent demographic to your door for both Christmas festivities and the football. See page 42 for more information.

Meanwhile, lager continues to perform well with world and premium lagers in particular being among the top performers.

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GIN

It would be impossible to run a trend report without mentioning gin. It’s been the star of the spirits show for years now but it looks set to dominate once again this Christmas.

The gin market has evolved during this period of dominance with, most recently, flavoured gins losing some ground to more traditional London Dry-style gins – but there’s no question that a good range of top-quality gins is a must this Christmas.

Try mixing up your range with big brand value gins, locally sourced gins if you can find them, some flavoured gin options and some premium and ultra-premium options for the more discerning among your customers. Read more about our gin range on page 51.

LOW & NO

Low and no alcohol alternatives are no longer niche lines. The category is rapidly becoming mainstream with more and more drinkers choosing low and no alcohol products more and more often.

A sure sign that the category is performing well is the fact that the majority of major beer, cider, spirits and wine producers have now launched low or no alcohol variants. Everyone from Heineken, Peroni and Smirnoff to Thatchers, Old Mout and Freixenet has launched a low or no alcohol variant or two.

The trend towards moderation is particularly notable among younger consumers. According to a recent survey by low-ABV producer Lucky Saint, 65% of Gen-Z drinkers ‘want to moderate’ their alcohol consumption on a night out while 37% of all UK adults drink alcohol-free products on a night out at least once a week. Read more about our low and no olcohol range on page 54.

KEY MATCHES

WORLD CUP OPENER

SUNDAY 20TH NOV QATAR V ECUADOR 4PM

HOME NATIONS MATCHES

MONDAY 21ST NOV ENGLAND V IRAN 1PM

USA V WALES 7PM

FRIDAY 25TH NOV WALES V IRAN 10AM

ENGLAND V USA 7PM

TUESDAY, 29TH NOV WALES V ENGLAND 7PM

QUARTER FINALS

3RD – 6TH DECEMBER

SEMI-FINALS

9TH-10TH DECEMBER

THIRD PLACE PLAY OFF

17TH DECEMBER

FINAL

18TH DECEMBER

COCKTAILS

One of the biggest trends of all during and after lockdown was cocktails. The CGA Mixed Drinks Report for the first quarter of 2022 found that On Premise cocktail sales were worth £664m in the first quarter of 2022—an impressive 8% increase on the first quarter of 2020.

Cocktails continue to be a major driver of spirits sales, and of categories like rum and tequila in particular.

CGA highlights spritz serves and draught cocktails as being among the key growth drivers in the category, where value is important.

Other CGA data highlights that cocktail drinkers visit On Trade premises 25% more than non-cocktail drinkers and they spend more per visit: £14.76 compared to the £13.69 average.

Some 23% of consumers now drink cocktails out of home, up 2% on 2019 figures, which equates to 11 million consumers.

CHAMPAGNE MOMENT

Wine as a category has had a mixed time in recent years but one area where the latest data suggests there is plenty of scope for growth, and plenty of momentum, is in sparkling wine and, in particular, in Champagne.

Prosecco and Cava have long been holding their own and driving sales and profits, but the latest trends see major growth for the traditional king of fizz.

Interestingly, there is some serious growth occurring in rosé Champagne, albeit from a small base. It probably makes sense to make sure that you have some options for Champagne customers this Christmas and to order in a case or two of rosé Champagne too.

GO LARGE CASH IN ON FESTIVE DEALS

To help you really step it up this festive period, we have some fantastic promotions available over the next few months to help you easily add some fun and excitement.

Here are just a few examples:

Aspall Deal: Buy 2 Aspall Draught 11kg kegs and get a free Aspall Winter Kit including 100 Aspall Mulled Cyder Infusion Bags, 6 Aspall Mulled Glasses and an Aspall Candle.

Heineken Deal: Buy any 4 cases of Heineken 5%, Heineken Silver or Heineken 0.0% and get a free Heineken Silver POS kit including 400 coasters, two ice buckets, 20 table talkers, three trays and two back bar displays.

Ice Breaker Deal: Buy three 30l kegs and get 12 Ice Breaker 4-pint pitchers and two mini chalkboards for free.

Jack Daniel’s Deal: Buy 4 70cl bottles or w 1.5l bottles of Jack Daniel’s and get a free Jack Daniel’s Chalkboard and two Jack Daniel’s t-shirts.

There are plenty of clear trends to follow over the coming few months and with a little luck the festive period, turbocharged by the FIFA World Cup, will deliver outstanding trading and help round off another challenging year in style.

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