Snooper
Where will no-alcohol beer go in 2021? Gathering momentum, ‘nolo’ is a sustainable trend not yet being capitalised on in-store, writes Laurie Wespes, CEO of Snooper.
It’s probably safe to say that no and low (‘nolo’) alcohol products,
Author: Laurie Wespes CEO Snooper
Within beer, in 2018 nolo beer in Australia sat at 0.02 per cent
whilst perhaps leaving infancy and moving into toddlerhood,
share of beer, according to IRI data. By September 2019 no-alcohol
are unlikely to be a fad or flash in the pan given the overarching
beers were up 50 per cent versus 2018. Meanwhile, BWS has
consumer trends they tap into.
seen no-alcohol beer sales increase 60 per cent last summer and
As with any new product category or segment, its instore
Carlton & United Breweries (CUB) has been quoted as predicting
RESEARCH & INSIGHTS
execution likewise goes through growing pains. Snooper’s
no-alcohol beer to account for two per cent of total beer by 2025.
shoppers recently had a look at how nolo beer is being executed
Globally, no-alcohol beer is projected to have a five per cent share
in-store and found a number of opportunities for improvement,
of total beer by 2027. AB Inbev has gone a step further, looking for
which we’ll discuss in this article. But first, some context.
low and no-alcohol beers to comprise 20 per cent of their volume.
The nolo beer market
Industry response: product proliferation
According to Drinkwise, in 2017 one in five adult Australians
The ability of nolo beers to compete with non-alcoholic sodas and
were avoiding alcohol and this was up from 11 per cent compared
beverages such as kombucha has been driven by the introduction
to seven years prior. This has likely increased further since,
of new products, beginning with variants from the majors. For
given the ‘mindful drinking’ trend linked to increased health
example, CUB’s Carlton Zero in 2018 was followed by Lion’s
consciousness that has only been exacerbated by the COVID
Heineken 0.0 and Peroni Libera in 2019.
pandemic, where an Illuminera study indicated that subsequent
Since then some of the craft brewers have got in on the act, both
to initial overindulgence in both snacking products and
overseas (such as Mikkeller and Brewdog), and domestically (such
alcohol earlier in the pandemic, consumers are looking to both
as Modus’ Nort, Stockade, Mornington). It should be noted that
reduce their consumption and switch to healthier alternatives.
Germany, meanwhile, has long been producing no-alcohol beers,
Accordingly, IRI data from April 2020 showed Heineken 0.0 and
by the likes of Weihenstephaner, Erdinger, Holsten and Clausthaler.
Carlton Zero to be among the top five beer brands in unit growth. Further, alongside an industry push to moderation, consumer abstention events such as Dry July, FebFast and OcSober have
Now we are also seeing the introduction of specialist noalcohol beer brands, such as Nirvana, Upflow and Sobah. The size of the nolo category, across liquor segments, is such
proliferated and represent good occasion based marketing
that there are now nolo specialist retailers such as the online pure
opportunities for no-alcohol beverages.
play company called Sans Drinks.
106 | National Liquor News