Off trade top 50 and most valuable brands

March 2016

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off-trade – Scotland’s most valuable brands

Top of the trade The range of drinks that convenience retailers have to consider, and potentially stock and display, has widened greatly in recent years. Today, with our exclusive Nielsen research we identify category trends and brand performances in the Scottish off-trade of some key alcohol categories (with more to follow in upcoming editions).

You can measure how your store did last year against the category and brand results and find growing new brands to check out.

TAKE a quick glance at the top 50 alcohol brands in the Scottish off-trade for the year to the start of 2016 and you might be forgiven if you think that little appears to be happening.

The top 10 brands are in ex-

actly the same position as last year, after all.

But dig just a little deeper and it becomes clear that the off-trade landscape is continuing to change, that some consumer trends are intensifying, and that purchasing

and consumption trends for spirits are really quite volatile.

Some of the drinks categories that were setting the heather on fire for retailer and consumer alike, like cider, appear to have cooled down. On the other hand other categories which were once considered old-fashioned, like gin, ale and liqueurs are experiencing

good times. And RTDs, which was up this time last year is down this time. But some of its biggest brands are doing well.

Over the next few issues Scottish Grocer will look at the tables produced exclusively for us by Nielsen Research to get a picture of overall trends in Scottish off-trade sales as well as more detailed information, including important top 15 in Scottish off-trade listings for individual alcohol catego-

Scotland’s top four off-trade alcohol brands remain Smirnoff, Glen’s, Tennent’s and Budweiser. But the performance of the two categories, vodka and lager, and of the brands differed last year. The two vodkas saw sales rise in a category that was also in growth. The two beers, and the lager category overall, saw sales fall.

36 l

l March 2016

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Scotland’s top 50 off-trade brands by sales value Rank

The figures in Scottish Grocer’s exclusive Scottish off-trade’s most valuable brands guide are provided by leading market research company Nielsen.

Figures are Nielsen ScanTrack for total Scottish off-trade and are moving annual totals (MATs) for the year to 2 January 2016 and are compared to the MATs for the previous year – to 3 January 2015. ries. Today we concentrate on key spirits and long alcoholic drinks.

But, to start, what does the overall top 50 tell us?

Well wine seems to have gone through a particularly volatile year. Overall light wine sales are down but the performance of different brands varies very considerably indeed. Market leader Hardys dropped 3% and Blossom Hill and Gallo were also down but some brands like McGuigan, Concha Y Toro and Barefoot were up strongly.

Cider ranges have grown considerably in recent times but it’s beginning to look as if it might be wise to prune some of the lines. But one brand, Strongbow Dark Fruit, could well be a candidate for extra space.

Bombay Sapphire put in a very strong performance to consolidate its position as the number two gin. And as you will see from the specific gin category figures in the features, several gins are doing well. While security issues sometimes make it difficult to merchandise spirits to best effect in c-stores, tweaking a gin selection might provide a sales tonic.

And speaking of tonics.

Buckfast is up and could be headed for the top 10.

Last year

MAT £m to w/e 03.01.15

MAT £m to /we 02.01.16

% Change

1

1

Smirnoff Red Label

70.5

71.5

2

2

Glen's

66.8

68.9

3.2

3

3

Tennent’s

56.8

56.1

-1.3

4

4

Budweiser

42.9

42.3

-1.4

5

5

Stella Artois

35.2

34.9

-0.9

6

6

The Famous Grouse

30.4

27.2

-10.3

7

7

Hardys

27.3

26.5

-3.0

8

8

Strongbow Original

24.4

23.6

-3.5

1.3

9

9

Gordon’s

22.6

21.6

-4.0

10

10

Whyte & Mackay

21.5

20.5

-4.6

11

13

Bells Original

17.4

18.2

4.6

12

11

Blossom Hill

19.0

17.4

-8.7

13

14

Buckfast Tonic Wine

13.1

17.2

31.3

14

12

Foster’s

17.6

15.5

-11.8

15

15

Bacardi

16.0

15.3

-4.7

16

17

Captain Morgan Spiced

14.1

15.0

6.4

17

16

Echo Falls

13.7

14.2

4.1

18

18

Russian Standard

12.5

13.7

9.5

19

23

Isla Negra

9.9

11.1

12.3

20

24

Jack Daniel’s

9.7

11.0

12.5

21

25

McGuigan

9.1

10.4

14.4

22

20

Carling

11.0

10.1

-8.3

23

28

Concha Y Toro

7.9

10.0

27.3

24

40

Corona

6.2

10.0

61.3

25

21

MGD

10.6

9.7

-9.2

26

19

Gallo Family Vineyards

11.5

9.6

-16.4

27

27

Peroni Nastro Azzurro

9.0

9.3

4.1

28

29

Jacobs Creek

7.9

8.5

7.8

29

31

Barefoot

7.2

8.4

16.5

30

22

Carlsberg

9.9

8.3

-15.7

31

30

Lindemans

7.3

7.6

3.9

32

32

McEwans Export Ale

7.2

7.4

3.3

33

33

Wolf Blass

7.1

7.2

1.2

34

41

Coors Light

6.2

7.1

14.0

35

38

Baileys Original

6.3

6.7

7.3

36

26

Kumala

9.1

6.7

-26.0

37

43

Campo Viejo

5.6

6.4

15.7

38

37

WKD

6.3

6.4

1.6

39

35

Kopparberg Mixed Fruit Cider

6.7

6.3

-6.3

40

34

Magners Original

6.8

6.2

-8.9

41

NE

Strongbow Dark Fruit

4.4

6.1

40.9

42

36

Grant’s Family Reserve

6.6

6.1

-7.5

43

42

Guinness Draught

5.7

6.1

7.5

44

47

Kopparberg Strawberry & Lime

4.9

5.7

16.4

45

46

Kronenbourg 1664

5.2

5.5

7.1

46

NE

Yellow Tail

3.9

5.3

36.0

47

NE

Villa Maria

4.7

5.3

12.7

48

44

Three Barrels Grape Brandy

5.4

5.2

-4.2

49

NE

Bombay Sapphire

4.0

5.2

28.7

50

45

Frosty Jacks

5.4

4.9

-8.0

NE = new entry

make up fd p36-40 off-trade top 50 section a E.indd 2

Brand

March 2016 l

l 37

24/02/2016 11:41

off-trade – Scotland’s most valuable brands

Moving on up IF there was ever an argument to support the idea that you should carefully consider your range of products in every drinks category then it’s this: last year in Scottish off-trade many of the fastest-growing brands were in categories – such as lager, wine and cider – that were in decline.

In the latest Nielsen table showing those brands in the top 50 that grew sales by more than 10%, for example, several wines figure.

Yellow Tail is up by 36% to £5.3m. Concha Y Toro is up more than 27%.

Barefoot, which topped the list of fastest growers this time last year added still more growth in the most recent figures, increasing sales by 16.5%.

And Campo Viejo is another brand which showed considerable growth.

Some categories of alcoholic drinks struggled last year, including a number that might depend on good summer weather for a sales boost. But it’s within those categories that we find some of last year’s fastest-growing brands.

We’ll be looking in more detail at the Nielsen wine figures for the Scottish off-trade in a forthcoming issue but it certainly appears to be a category in which it pays to know what’s hot.

However, the fastest-growing brand this year wasn’t a wine – it was the Mexican lager Corona.

Now, in 2014 there had been problems with production in the early part of the year and that may have influenced the brand’s sales decline in 2014 and its subsequent bounceback in 2015.

But, even with that consideration, a 61% sales increase and the achievement of £10m sales in a year when overall lager sales fell, when consumers could only break

out the barbie very occasionally, and when there were few major TV sports events, is a remarkable performance. Coors Light was another beer growing strongly in a tough market.

Our Buckfast figure is influenced to some extent by a tweak to last year’s figure that resulted from a change in the sample used. Last year’s figure was reduced in the survey and when the most recent year’s figure was computed it showed more than 31% sales growth.

A very large proportion of Buckfast sales go through the convenience sector and the latest stats show it has become one of the single-most important alcohol brands for Scottish c-stores.

The fastest-growing major brand in Scottish off-sales (drawn from those that were already in the top 50) is Mexican Beer Corona. In the previous year (2014, which included a period when there had been shortages of supply) sales had actually fallen.

So the 2015 growth marks a major bounce back, especially considering the Scottish summer weather was poor.

Coors Light was another lager which very significantly bucked the downward category sales trend.

Top 50 brands that increased sales by more than 10% Rank

Some changes to the statistical sample used by Nielsen Research caused the researcher to look carefully at Buckfast’s figures. It adjusted the previous year’s total and found that growth in 2015 for the brand had been substantial.

38 l

Brand

MAT £m to w/e 03.01.15

MAT £m to /we 02.01.16

% Change

1

Corona

6.2

10.0

61.3

2

Strongbow Dark Fruit

4.4

6.1

40.9

3

Yellow Tail

3.9

5.3

36.0

4

Buckfast Tonic Wine

13.1

17.2

31.3

5

Bombay Sapphire

4.0

5.2

28.7

6

Concha Y Toro

7.9

10.0

27.3

7

Barefoot

7.2

8.4

16.5

8

Kopparberg Strawberry & Lime

4.9

5.7

16.4

9

Campo Viejo

5.6

6.4

15.7

10

McGuigan

9.1

10.4

14.4

11

Coors Light

6.2

7.1

14.0

12

Villa Maria

4.7

5.3

12.7

13

Jack Daniel’s

9.7

11.0

12.5

14

Isla Negra

9.9

11.1

12.3

l March 2016

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24/02/2016 11:42

J. Chandler & Co (Buckfast) Ltd

New Abbey House, Fyfield Road, Weyhill, Andover, SP11 8DN. Telephone: 01264 774 700 Fax: 01264 774 747

www.buckfast.com

Registered in England No. 222047 VAT Registered No. 22652377 JChandler - SG - linda .indd 1

24/02/2016 11:14

off-trade – Scotland’s most valuable brands

Scotland’s top 50 off-trade spirits by sales value Rank

Last year

Brand

£000s to w/e 03.01.15

£000s to /we 02.01.16

% Change

1

1

Smirnoff

70,535

71,479

2

2

Glen's

66,825

68,941

1.3 3.2

3

3

The Famous Grouse

30,372

27,239

-10.3

4

4

Gordon’s

22,553

21,648

-4.0 -4.6

5

5

Whyte & Mackay

21,463

20,473

6

6

Bells Original

17,419

18,220

4.6

7

7

Bacardi

16,004

15,251

-4.7

8

8

Captain Morgan Spiced

14,072

14,979

6.4

9

9

Russian Standard

12,503

13,691

9.5

10

10

Jack Daniel’s

9,737

10,956

12.5

11

12

Baileys Original

6,277

6,734

7.3

12

11

Grant’s Family Reserve

6,635

6,136

-7.5

13

14

Three Barrels Grape Brandy

5,397

5,169

-4.2

14

15

Bombay Sapphire

4,014

5,164

28.7

15

13

High Commissioner

6,271

4,537

-27.7

16

23

Glenmorangie Original

2,915

3,391

16.3

17

16

Courvoisier VS

3,385

3,383

-0.1

18

20

Southern Comfort

2,999

3,143

4.8

19

21

Absolut Vodka Original

2,991

3,107

3.9

Jack Daniel’s: continued growth saw it reach almost £11m Scottish take-home sales

20

18

OVD

3,053

3,055

0.1

21

22

Glenfiddich 12 Yr Old

2,940

2,897

-1.5

22

17

Aberlour 10 Yr Old

3,372

2,772

-17.8

Acting on impulse

23

29

Green Mark Russian Vodka

2,190

2,597

18.6

LOOK at the top 50 spirits in Scottish take-home and it becomes clear just how important the two giant vodkas, Smirnoff and Glen’s, are.

It was an important year for Glen’s, after new owner Loch Lomond Group repackaged the brand.

Marketing executive Gary Mills said the brand was benefiting, especially in Scottish impulse outlets where he said it is currently achieving growth of 13% in both value and volume and had introduced PMPs. Other key spirits brands in the latest research include: Jack Daniel’s, now very firmly a top 10 brand; Glenmorangie Original, which is now number one malt; Bombay Sapphire, performing well ahead of a buoyant gin market; and Hendrick’s, also well ahead of good gin growth.

40 l

24

27

Jura 10 Yr Old

2,363

2,522

6.8

25

30

Greenall’s Original

2,072

2,468

19.1

26

33

Tanqueray London Dry Gin

1,797

2,420

34.6

27

26

Martell VS

2,397

2,376

-0.9

28

28

Teacher’s Highland Cream

2,261

2,373

5.0

29

25

Drambuie

2,408

2,321

-3.6

30

24

Vladivar Classic

2,843

2,164

-23.9

31

36

Highland Park 12 Year Old

1,681

2,131

26.8

32

31

Jagermeister

2,065

2,039

-1.3

33

NE

Glenlivet Founder's Reserve

2,006

NEW

34

32

Grey Goose

35

NE

Bombay Dry Gin

1,852

1,952

5.4

225

1,867

729.6

36

35

Malibu Coconut

1,713

1,790

4.5

37

38

Jim Beam

1,616

1,749

8.3

38

39

Disaronno

1,593

1,725

8.3

39

37

Jack Daniel’s Honey

1,680

1,720

2.4

40

40

Glen Moray Classic

1,580

1,702

7.8

41

34

Tia Maria

1,751

1,636

-6.6

42

NE

The Glen Stag

1,537

NEW

43

42

Glayva Liqueur

1,388

1,422

2.5

44

43

Old Pulteney 12 Yr Old Malt

1,281

1,404

9.6

45

48

Hendrick's

1,087

1,341

23.4

46

45

Jameson

1,145

1,272

11.1

47

50

Chambord

1,074

1,267

18.0

48

46

Cointreau

1,140

1,198

5.1

49

NE

Jura Superstition

1,051

1,164

10.8

50

NE

Kirov

1,121

NEW

NE = new entry l March 2016

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24/02/2016 11:42

Halewood - SG - linda.indd 1

24/02/2016 15:02

off-trade – Scotland’s most valuable brands: gin

Tough at the top GIN isn’t the biggest spirits category in the Scottish offtrade but it is currently one of the most interesting.

There has been a boom in gin manufacturing as large distillers and small have launched an extraordinary range of craft gins as well as products flavoured with traditional and other ingredients.

Those new gins have gained visibility in city cocktail bars and other on-trade outlets. In the last couple of years they have begun to make their way onto supermarket shelves and some could very well have a part to play in c-stores too.

But what is the effect of the gin revolution among the main gin players in the Scottish offtrade?

Well, first things first, in the most recent 12 months measured by Nielsen gin sales in Scottish off-trade outlets are up, by a very healthy 6.3%.

And that followed the 6% growth achieved by gin in the previous year.

In the two years of 2014 and 2015 gin sales in the Scottish off-trade jumped from £43m to more than £48m.

And over those two years most of the main brands have seen growth.

This year however there’s a significant difference.

While market leader Gordon’s still dominates the category in the Scottish off-trade massively (taking almost 45% of all sales and being around four times bigger than its nearest competitor) its sales in the 12 months to early January were down by 4% on the previous year.

It’s quite a change from the previous year when the brand had grown by 7%.

Among the big gin winners 42 l

Scotland’s top off-trade gins by sales value Rank

Brand

MAT £000s to w/e 03.01.15

MAT £000s to /we 02.01.16

% Change

Total Gin

45,387

48,269

1

6.3

Gordon’s

22,553

21,648

-4.0

2

Bombay Sapphire

4,014

5,164

28.7

3

Greenall’s Original

2,072

2,468

19.1

4

Tanqueray London Dry Gin

1,797

2,420

34.6

5

Bombay Dry Gin

6

Hendrick's

7

225

1,867

729.6

1,087

1,341

23.4

Caorunn

516

885

71.6

8

Glen's London Extra Dry

117

295

151.7

9

Blackwoods Vintage Dry Gin

244

274

12.5

10

Grosvenor London Dry Gin

253

267

5.8

11

Gordon’s Elderflower

227

230

1.1

12

Tanqueray No Ten

109

211

93.5

13

Edinburgh Gin

122

206

68.9

14

Gordon’s Crisp Cucumber

357

170

-52.2

15

Beefeater Gin

316

167

-47.1

Bombay Sapphire and Bombay Dry both achieved significant sales growth in 2015. Gordon’s gin, while still massively the biggest gin, was shown as down 4%. The Edinburgh Gin brand saw sales rise by almost 69%.

in Scottish off-trade over 2015 were second placed Bombay Sapphire which grew by almost 29% and made up some ground on Gordon’s and its stablemate Bombay Dry

which had been a new launch in 2014 but jumped hugely to achieve sales of almost £1.9m and grab the number-five spot.

Hendrick’s is now also com-

fortably above £1m worth of off-trade sales. And Caorunn, Glen’s Extra London Dry, Greenall’s, the Tanqueray gins, Edinburgh Gin and Blackwoods also showed growth.

l March 2016

make up fd p p42 - 54 off trade top 50 section b M.indd 1

24/02/2016 15:51

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IanMacleod - SG - linda.indd 1

24/02/2016 14:56

off-trade – Scotland’s most valuable brands: whisky

Scotland’s top off-trade blended Scotch by sales value Rank

Brand

MAT £000s to w/e 03.01.15

Total Blended Scotch

In another tough year for blended whisky in the Scottish off-trade Johnnie Walker Red Label was a star performer with 15.9% growth.

SHOULD you be giving more space to malt whisky and less to blended Scotch? Well, for the second year in a row the Nielsen Scantrack data shows blended Scotch whisky sales in significant decline. In the year to the beginning of January this year the category was down 5.4% and the previous year it had dropped 5%.

Malt whisky on the other hand continued to increase sales, up 4.5% in the latest year after achieving growth of 7% 12 months before.

It means that in two years blended whisky sales in the Scottish off-trade have fallen by around £12m to 102.2m while sales of malts are up by over £4m to reach £38.6m.

In blends The Famous Grouse remains the market leader by a very considerable distance despite recording a sales decline of 10.3% in the Nielsen findings.

The best sales growth per44 l

% Change

102,207

-5.4

1

The Famous Grouse

30,372

27,239

-10.3

2

Whyte & Mackay

21,463

20,473

-4.6

3

Bell’s Original

17,419

18,220

4.6

4

Grant’s Family Reserve

6,635

6,136

-7.5

5

High Commissioner

6,271

4,537

-27.7

6

Teacher’s Highland Cream

2,261

2,373

5.0

7

The Glen Stag

1,537

NEW

8

Chivas Regal 12 Year Old

1,083

1,108

2.3

9

Johnnie Walker Red Label

904

1,048

15.9

10

Black Bottle

916

1,012

10.6

11

Scottish Leader Finest

956

885

-7.4

12

Johnnie Walker Black Label

657

579

-11.8

13

The Black Grouse

798

562

-29.6

14

Ballantine's Finest

242

392

61.5

15

Claymore Scotch Whisky

376

382

1.7

Scotland’s top off-trade malt Scotch by sales value Rank

Brand

MAT £000s to w/e 03.01.15

Total Malt Scotch

Moving to malt?

MAT £000s to /we 02.01.16

108,069

MAT £000s to /we 02.01.16

% Change

36,885

38,552

4.5 16.3

1

Glenmorangie Original

2,915

3,391

2

Glenfiddich 12 Yr Old

2,940

2,897

-1.5

3

Aberlour 10 Yr Old

3,372

2,772

-17.8

4

Jura 10 Yr Old

2,363

2,522

6.8

5

Highland Park 12 Year Old

1,681

2,131

26.8

6

The Glenlivet Founder's Reserve

2,006

NEW

7

Glen Moray Classic

1,580

1,702

7.8

8

Old Pulteney 12 Yr Old Malt

1,281

1,404

9.6

9

Jura Superstition

1,051

1,164

10.8

10

Laphroaig Malt 10 Yr Old

868

905

4.2

11

Balvenie Doublewood 12 Yr Old

980

891

-9.1

12

The Glenlivet 12 Yr Old

3,011

811

-73.1

13

The Ardmore

124

788

537.2

14

Dalwhinnie Malt Whisky 15 Y.O.

1,002

746

-25.6

15

Singleton Of Dufftown Spey Cascade

177

663

275.1

formances among the major blends came from Bell’s, up almost 5%, Johnnie Walker Red Label, up almost 16% – in a second year of strong growth, and Black Bottle which showed a sales increase of almost 11% and saw its Scottish off-trade sales push though £1m.

Value brand, available in Morrisons, Glen Stag was a new entry in the blends top 15.

Among malts there was a return to the top for one time long-term Scottish market leader Glenmorangie, Glenmorangie Original’s

sales grew by more than 16%.

Highland Park also seems to have had a very good year in Scottish off-sales.

Glenlivet Founder’s Reserve, a new malt from the brand, made an impressive entry at number six on the chart but looks to have hit sales of Glenlivet 12 year old.

The Ardmore saw sales rise dramatically from a low base as did Spey Cascade from Singleton of Dufftown.

Only a few of the major malts saw declines in what was another strong Scottish sales year.

Black Bottle: up 10.6%.

l March 2016

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24/02/2016 11:38

C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

MY

K

Distell - SG - linda.indd 1

23/02/2016 16:04

off-trade – Scotland’s most valuable brands: liqueurs

Scotland’s top off-trade liqueurs by sales value Rank

Brand

MAT £000s to w/e 03.01.15

Total Non-Cream Liqueurs

Chambord growth continues. It was up 49% in 2014 and a further 18% in 2015.

MAT £000s to /we 02.01.16

% Change

19,884

20,928

5.3

1

Drambuie

2,408

2,321

-3.6

2

Jagermeister

2,065

2,039

-1.3

3

Disaronno

1,593

1,725

8.3

4

Jack Daniels Honey

1,680

1,720

2.4

5

Tia Maria

1,751

1,636

-6.6

6

Glayva Liqueur

1,388

1,422

2.5

7

Chambord

1,074

1,267

18.0

8

Cointreau

1,140

1,198

5.1

9

Sourz Apple

933

963

3.2

10

Sourz Raspberry

714

614

-14.0

11

Aftershock Red

115

520

350.9

12

Stivy's Kola Vodka

340

412

21.0

13

Sourz Rainbow Ice

377

NEW

14

Kahlua

295

329

11.5

15

Sourz Tropical Blue

164

232

41.7

Scotland’s top off-trade cream liqueurs by sales value Rank

Disaronno is another established liqueur that continues to grow in the Scottish off-trade.

Not just Christmas DO liqueurs have a place on drinks shelves in all channels and across the entire trading year? Well it looks as if some certainly do.

Both of the liqueur categories analysed by Nielsen – cream liqueurs and non-cream liqueurs – saw significant growth last year, both were up 5.3% on the year before.

The combined sales total of £30.5m is equivalent to about 60% of gin sales and is 46 l

Brand

MAT £000s to w/e 03.01.15

MAT £000s to /we 02.01.16

% Change

Total Cream Liqueurs

9,187

9,676

1

Baileys Original

6,277

6,734

7.3

2

Irish Meadow

478

368

-23.2

3

Baileys Chocolat Luxe

315

311

-1.2

4

O'Connors Irish Cream

178

282

59.1

5

Baileys Orange Truffle

300

268

-10.7

6

Irish Knights Liqueur

312

145

-53.6

7

Baileys Coffee

125

131

5.0

8

Amarula

118

127

7.7

9

Warninks White

54

97

78.1

78

NEW

82

72

-12.2

107

70

-34.7

47

NEW

45

NEW

36

76.9

10

Causeway Coast

11

Thorntons Chocolate Liqueur

12

Sheridan's

13

Causeway Coast Superior

14

Rum Chata

15

Arran Gold

about two and a half times the amount achieved by speciality drinks.

So what’s hot in the liqueur scene in Scotland’s off-trade currently?

Well Drambuie and Jagermeister retain the number one and number two positions in non-cream liqueurs from last year but, while this time last year they both recorded substantial growth, in 2015 both slipped back.

21

The Italian liqueur Disaronno achieved some of the best growth among established liqueurs in Scotland’s off-trade in 2015 when it increased sales by 8.3% to reach £1.7m.

Raspberry liqueur Chambord consolidated its impressive growth in 2014 to increase by 18% in 2015 and reach almost £1.3m worth of sales.

Jack Daniel’s Honey whiskey liqueur, Glayva, Cointreau, a number of Sourz variants, Af-

5.3

tershock Red and Kahlua also did well.

Baileys Original continues to massively dominate cream liqueur sales and it saw 7.3% growth.

Interestingly however Baileys Chocolate Luxe was down in 2015 after showing very substantial growth in 2014.

Among the smaller cream liqueurs some showed high growth and there were several new entries.

l March 2016

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24/02/2016 15:54

BRAVO TO +18% GROWTH IN SCOTLAND HIP-HIP!

Chambordchannel.com Please enjoy Chambord responsibly.

For the facts: drinkaware.co.uk

Chambord - SG - linda.indd 1

*Source: Nielsen Scantrack Latest Off-Trade MAT 02.01.16 Chambord Black Raspberry Liqueur Š2016.

Chambord is a registered trademark.

All rights reserved

25/02/2016 11:00

off-trade – Scotland’s most valuable brands: RTDs+specialities

Scotland’s top off-trade RTDs by sales value Rank

Brand

MAT £000s to w/e 03.01.15

Total RTD

RTD category brand leader WKD appeared to do very well in a market that was sharply down in 2015 and which showed very marked variety in performances.

More in the Soop RTDs and speciality drinks are often seen as appealing especially to young adults and young adults can be fickle, right?

Well there’s little doubt that trends and performances change quite dramatically from year to year.

Take RTDs as an example.

This time last year the category itself was reported to be in rude commercial health in Scottish off-trade with sales rising. But despite all of that the category brand leader WKD had been in significant decline.

This year the reverse is true.

The category is in decline, by 4.5% by sales value, but sales of category leader WKD are up, by 1.6%.

All in all a good result. But not as good a result as that of the new second-placed RTD, the canned alcoholic energy drink Dragon’s Soop.

It had taken fourth position last year and had grown 57%.

This year it moves into second spot, ahead of major brands like Smirnoff Ice and Crabbie’s Ginger Beer after its 48 l

MAT £000s to /we 02.01.16

30,767

29,388

% Change

-4.5

1

WKD

6,289

6,388

1.6

2

Dragon Soop

1,386

2,806

102.4

3

Smirnoff Ice

2,800

2,580

-7.9

4

Jack Daniel’s & Cola

845

1,319

56.1

5

Crabbie’s Ginger Beer

1,696

1,316

-22.4

6

Gordon’s G&T

1,282

1,088

-15.1

7

Caribbean Twist

920

994

8.0

8

Gordon’s Diet G&T

920

772

-16.0

9

Smirnoff Sorbet

1,175

760

-35.3

10

Parrot Bay

1,211

688

-43.2

11

Hooch

465

500

7.7

12

Captain Morgan Spiced & Cola

563

456

-19.0

13

Smirnoff & Cola

534

447

-16.3

14

VS Sorted

286

414

44.7

15

Bacardi Breezer

813

412

-49.3

Scotland’s top off-trade specialities by sales value Rank

Brand

MAT £000s to w/e 03.01.15

Speciality Drinks

MAT £000s to /we 02.01.16

% Change

12,777

12,224

-4.3

1

Southern Comfort Original

2,999

3,143

4.8

2

Malibu Coconut

1,713

1,790

4.5

3

Pimms No 1

1,126

792

-29.7

4

V-Kat Schnapps

668

708

6.0

5

Archers Peach

708

639

-9.8

6

Pernod

518

499

-3.7

7

Cactus Jacks Apple Sour

307

241

-21.6

8

Campari

228

222

-2.6

9

Savanna Peach Schnapps

88

215

144.6 -16.7

10

Midori

252

210

11

Brandx

186

199

6.9

12

Passoa

137

165

20.8

13

Spirit Of Louisiana

178

162

-9.4

14

Jack Daniels Winter Jack

203

154

-23.8

15

Southern Comfort Lime

197

153

-22.2

sales more than doubled compared to the previous year to reach £28m.

Jack Daniel’s & Cola is the other big success story among RTDs, with sales up by more than 56%.

Speciality drinks were down overall – category sales dropped 4.3%.

But, interestingly, it was the established, top-selling brands that significantly bucked the downward trend.

Southern Comfort retained

its category-leading position in Scotland’s off-trade with sales up almost 5%. The brand was advertised heavily last year.

And Malibu, currently involved in new product development initiatives, was up 4.5%. In a year with a bad summer Pimms No 1 fell almost 30% from £1.1m to less than £800,000.

Spray Tan, a Southern Comfort ad that backed the growing brand last year.

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24/02/2016 11:38

off-trade – Scotland’s most valuable brands: vodka

Top brands rising SPIRITS sales are hugely important to the Scottish offtrade and, despite the world regarding Scotland as the home of whisky, vodka is the country’s biggest selling spirit.

Nielsen measured vodka category sales in the Scottish off-trade as totalling just over £195m in the 12 months to the beginning of this year.

The combined total of blended, malt and imported whisky only reaches £158m.

Considering vodka’s existing very strong position it looks to have had a reasonably good year last year with overall category growth of more than £3m or 1.7%.

And 11 out of 15 top-selling Scottish off-trade vodkas showed sales growth, many of them at rates that were well ahead of the market.

Of course if vodka dominates spirits sales in the country’s off-trade outlets that’s largely down to two brands – Smirnoff and Glen’s.

Diageo-owned Smirnoff retained its category leadership and saw sales rise by 1.3% in the period covered by the Nielsen figures.

That appears to be quite an impressive performance, because it’s never easy for a brand to achieve significant growth if it already has high sales figures and is in near 100% distribution.

But that 1.3% is slightly behind the overall category growth of 1.7% and is well short of the 6% growth in Scottish off-sales that it achieved the previous year.

The second-placed brand Glen’s on the other hand has sustained and bettered its growth rate in the last two years.

This year it’s shown to have achieved 3.2% growth and has closed the sales value

Scotland’s top off-trade vodkas Scotch by sales value Rank

Brand

MAT £000s to w/e 03.01.15

Total Vodka Inc Flavoured

MAT £000s to /we 02.01.16

191,764

195,050

1.7

1

Smirnoff Red Label

70,535

71,479

1.3

2

Glen's

66,825

68,941

3.2

3

Russian Standard

12,503

13,691

9.5

4

Absolut Vodka Original

2,991

3,107

3.9

5

Green Mark Russian Vodka

2,190

2,597

18.6

6

Vladivar Classic

2,843

2,164

-23.9

7

Grey Goose

1,852

1,952

5.4

8

Kirov

9

Selekt

1,121

NEW

1,396

874

-37.4

10

Absolut Raspberri

758

865

14.1

11

Red Square

954

753

-21.1

12

Eristoff

404

655

62.2

13

Finlandia

550

535

-2.7

14

Zubrowka Bison Vodka

413

492

19.0

15

Stolichnaya

358

466

30.1

gap between the big two in vodka in the Scottish off-trade to roughly £2.5m.

A considerable distance behind but growing fast in terms of Scottish take-home sales is Russian Standard vodka.

In the 12 months being measured it was up 9.5% to

£13.7m and that came on the back of 32% growth the previous year.

It has now established itself as the clear third-placed vodka brand in the country’s offtrade.

Between them the big three account for 79% of take-

home vodka sales.

But many of the smaller brands are showing good rates of off-trade growth.

Green Mark Russian vodka is up by almost 19%, for example. And Stolichnaya has entered the top 15 after seeing sales growth of 30%.

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% Change

l 49

24/02/2016 16:04

off-trade – Scotland’s most valuable brands: cider

Dark star in tough year IT’S very difficult to see it any other way, cider had a pretty tough year in the Scottish offtrade in 2015. Sales fell 4.2% overall. And of the 15 top sellers in Scottish take-home outlets 10 showed sales decline and nine of those 10 fell at a rate faster than the overall result for the category.

The one exception among those ciders however was the market leader Strongbow Original which was down 3.5%. It begins to look like a decent performance, especially when its stable mate Strongbow Dark Fruit was the star player in the table, with growth of just under 41%.

That growth was on the back of the 106% growth the Dark Fruit variant achieved the year before, and it sees it move up from seventh position in the cider table to fourth place.

It means the combined sales of Strongbow Original and Strongbow Dark Fruit increased by over £1m to reach £29.8m, which in the context of a declining market should be seen as actually quite a positive outcome for the brand, especially when some other brands’ sales declines were very marked.

Of course, that overall cider decline happened in a year that had a poor summer, especially when compared to the year before when summer was good.

Many of the cider firms have made strenuous efforts to persuade consumers to look upon cider as an all-year drink but it remains an alcohol category where good weather heavily influences levels of consumption.

This time last year it looked as if fruit ciders were the main engine of cider growth. This year the picture is different.

Strongbow Dark Fruit is a fruit flavoured cider in sub50 l

Scotland’s top off-trade ciders by sales value Rank

Brand

MAT £000s to w/e 03.01.15

MAT £000s to /we 02.01.16

% Change

Total Cider

96,308

92,270

-4.2

1

Strongbow Original

24,412

23,566

-3.5

2

Kopparberg Mixed Fruit Cider

6,687

6,266

-6.3

3

Magners Original

6,833

6,219

-9.0

4

Strongbow Dark Fruit

4,359

6,143

40.9

5

Kopparberg Strawberry & Lime

4,913

5,717

16.4

6

Frosty Jacks

5,364

4,948

-7.8

7

Stella Artois Cidre

4,758

3,082

-35.2

8

Henry Westons Vintage

1,790

2,084

16.5

9

K

937

1,807

92.8

10

Kopparberg Pear Cider

2,162

1,491

-31.0

11

Scrumpy Jack

1,578

1,460

-7.5

12

Rekorderlig Strawberry & Lime

1,351

1,397

3.4

13

Bulmers Red Berries & Lime

1,645

1,194

-27.4

14

Bulmers Original

1,219

1,076

-11.7

15

Omega White Cider

1,456

1,030

-29.3

In a year of mixed fortunes for alcohol categories in the Scottish off-trade cider was one of the drinks that was hardest hit.

But there were still 2015 successes. Strongbow Dark Fruit continued on a path of strong growth. K Cider fared well after receiving a revamp and Strawberry & Lime did better than many other flavours, especially for Kopparberg.

stantial growth of course. Beyond that Strawberry & Lime flavour did well in 2015 for both Kopparberg (especially) and Rekorderlig.

Other fruit flavours didn’t fare so well however.

Kopparberg Pear and Bulmer Crushed Red Berries and Lime were well down.

In fact the few ciders that did well tended to be more traditional in one way or another.

Henry Weston’s Vintage

showed growth of 16.5% in Scottish take-home and K Cider, the strong cider which C&C revamped in 2014, had a very good 2015 indeed, almost doubling its sales to reach a total of £1.8m.

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24/02/2016 11:39

off-trade – Scotland’s most valuable brands: beer

Tennent’s remained leader among lagers in Scottish take home in 2015 and it performed slightly better than the lager market overall. But many of the biggest beer brands saw sales decline. Lagers showing positive Scottish off-trade growth despite the market decline included Corona, Coors Light and Peroni.

Up and down lagers THE beer sales pattern for Scottish off-trade in 2015 is actually quite complex and fascinating. And, while much of the outcomes will have been influenced by the promotion or non-promotion of certain brands in supermarkets, there are some clear trends that should be carefully considered by convenience retailers.

Combined sales of lagers, ales and stouts in the Nielsen listings came out at just under £331m – that compared to just over £333m the year before.

But losses are most acute in lager. The lager sub-category dropped overall by 1.6%. The market leader Tennent’s and the next two biggest brands Budweiser and Stella Artois were all down slightly but still managed to beat the market performance. Foster’s, Car-

Scotland’s top off-trade lagers by sales value Rank

Brand

Total Lager

MAT £000s to w/e 03.01.15

MAT £000s to /we 02.01.16

281,474

-1.6

1

Tennent’s

56,815

56,072

-1.3

2

Budweiser

42,858

42,271

-1.4

3

Stella Artois

35,211

34,887

-0.9

4

Foster’s

17,621

15,542

-11.8

5

Carling

11,044

10,127

-8.3

6

Corona

6,179

9,964

61.3

7

MGD

10,625

9,652

-9.2

8

Peroni Nastro Azzurro

8,984

9,349

4.1

9

Carlsberg

9,894

8,344

-15.7

10

Coors Light

6,190

7,056

14.0

11

Kronenbourg 1664

5,154

5,521

7.1

12

Heineken (5%)

4,712

4,803

1.9

13

San Miguel

4,468

4,740

6.1

14

Tyskie

4,105

4,261

3.8

15

Becks Bier

4,193

4,068

-3.0

ling, MGD and Carlsberg, on the other hand, were all down heavily.

But there were very good la-

ger performances too. On the up in 2015 were Corona, with very significant growth indeed, Peroni, Coors Light, Kronen-

bourg 1664 and San Miguel.

Heineken continued growing.

And Polish beer Tyskie registered almost 4% growth.

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% Change

285,973

l 51

24/02/2016 11:39

off-trade – Scotland’s most valuable brands: beer

Feeling the craft SO, if lager has seen sales decline is it suffering from increased competition from resurgent ales and stouts and a remarkable collection of craft beers?

Well it does look as if the main growth in beer is indeed coming from craft products and more traditional ales and stouts. However it’s important to remember certain things before going on to look at some fascinating apparent market trends within ales and stouts themselves.

First, while lager certainly slipped back last year it still accounts for by far the biggest part of Scottish off-trade beer business.

Lager sales total almost £331m, while ales and stouts combined reach a little bit less than £50m.

And 2015 could be seen as having been a challenging time for lager particularly when compared to the previous year. While 2014 had delivered a reasonably fine summer 2015 returned to the recent norm of poor June, July and August weather.

And while 2014 had included a World Cup and the Ryder Cup, 2015 was a quiet year for major TV sports events.

This year we will have the Euros and the Olympics and the lager brand owners will also be hoping the sun comes out.

But, all that being said, the difference in growth and decline between the different beer sub-categories is very noticeable.

The total ales market was up 4.8% on the year and that followed 4% growth the year before. Nielsen’s findings show that ales have added almost £3.5m sales in two years. Lagers lost around £2m worth of 52 l

Scotland’s top off-trade ales by sales value Rank

Brand

MAT £000s to w/e 03.01.15

Total Ale

MAT £000s to /we 02.01.16

% Change

38,925

40,797

1

McEwan’s Export Ale

7,198

7,435

4.8 3.3

2

John Smith’s Extra Smooth

4,304

4,184

-2.8

3

Tennent’s Special

2,450

1,849

-24.5

4

Belhaven Best Draught Ale

2,057

1,762

-14.3

5

Old Speckled Hen

1,098

1,276

16.2

6

Newcastle Brown

1,211

1,203

-0.7

7

Brewdog Punk IPA

594

1,165

96.2

8

McEwan’s Champion

943

1,070

13.6

9

Deuchar’s IPA

1,142

1,021

-10.6

10

Innis & Gunn Original

1,088

1,021

-6.2

11

Hobgoblin

851

906

6.6

12

Bitter & Twisted

525

646

23.0

13

Joker IPA

331

633

91.4

14

Orkney Dark Island Ale

544

618

13.8

15

Arran Blonde

492

598

21.5

2015 turned out to be another good year for ale in Scotland’s off-trade outlets. Growth came from many different types and brands. Market leader McEwan’s Export returned to growth with a 3.3% increase in sales. McEwan’s Champion Ale was also up and Brewdog Punk IPA sales soared by 96% to more than £1m.

sales in the same period.

In 2015 stouts added 3.1% to reach sales of £8.7m.

But it would be wrong to think that the trends are simply a result of all ales and

stouts doing well. We’ve already seen, on page 52, that some lagers did very well in 2015, while some broadly matched the market performance and others fell sharp-

ly. In ales, despite the overall growth, it was a very similar picture.

So who were the big winners and which brands struggled?

Well there seem to be two

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24/02/2016 11:39

Leader of the four pack.

McEwan’s Export continues to be the best selling canned ale in Scotland. So stay ahead of demand and stock up now.

Source: Nielsen ScanTrack Value Sales, MAT to 02.01.16.

CharlesWells - SG - linda.indd 1

PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY

23/02/2016 16:02

off-trade – Scotland’s most valuable brands: beer

A number of craft beers including Arran Blonde, Joker IPA, Bitter & Twisted, and Orkney Dark Island Ale showed good growth this year. Substantial growth in sales of the stout market leader Guinness Draught helped stout sales increase by more than 3%. Guinness has been advertising heavily. It’s latest Made of More ads have been running this year.

distinct stories, one about mainstream canned ales and one about premium bottled ales and craft ales.

At the top of the table this time last year all the major brands were in decline. This year there is one notable exception. Take-home ales market leader McEwan’s Export returned to growth in 2015, clocking up a 3.3% increase to reach sales of £7.4m.

In contrast its nearest competitors John Smith’s Extra Smooth, Tennent’s Special and Belhaven Best were all down.

But it was among ales that for the most part are sold in bottles (though a number of craft beers are now also available in cans) that some of the greatest growth occurred.

One to note is Brewdog’s Punk IPA – up by a massive 96% to crash through the £1m sales barrier, while jumping ahead of brands like Deuchar’s IPA, Innis & Gunn Original and even Hobgoblin, which showed decent growth itself.

Old Speckled Hen is up 54 l

Scotland’s top off-trade stouts by sales value Rank

Brand

MAT £000s to w/e 03.01.15

MAT £000s to /we 02.01.16

% Change

Total Stout

8,466

8,725

1

Guinness Dr

5,670

6,094

7.5

2

Guinness Original

1,156

1,002

-13.3

3

Tennents Sweetheart

717

668

-6.9

4

Murphy's Draught

246

315

28.3

5

Belhaven Black

202

184

-8.8

6

Cairngorm Black Gold

73

103

40.6

7

Guinness Foreign Extra

47

53

12.4

8

Mackeson

42

42

2.0

9

Broughton Dark Dunter

15

38

153.8

10

Guinness Mid Strength

71

37

-48.5

11

Orkney Dragonhead

37

36

-3.6

12

Black Wych Stout

15

35

131.0

13

March Of The Penguins

30

33

8.7

14

Young’s Double Chocolate

18

10

-44.7

15

Belhaven Scottish Oat Stout

1

9

800

16.2% and has moved into the Scottish off-trade ales top five having moved ahead of Newcastle Brown Ale. And McEwan’s Champion Ale is another beer that had a good year and moved up the table.

Craft beers like Bitter & Twisted, Joker IPA, Orkney

Dark Island and Arran Blonde also showed very good growth indeed.

In stouts Guinness Draught dominates, of course, and its growth of 7.5% was a huge contributing factor to the stout sub-category’s overall growth.

However, interestingly, its mainstream competitor Mur-

3.1

phy’s Draught was also up considerably.

Guinness has been advertising heavily, using its TV ads in the Made of More series, and it has also been busy adding craft stouts to its bottled range. Guinness Foreign Extra Stout, from a low base, was up 12.4%.

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24/02/2016 11:40

ArranBrewery - SG - linda.indd 1

25/02/2016 13:37