Big brands turn to aluminium beer 'bottles' to drive mature market value sales

Within mature markets for beer such as western Europe and the US where volume growth is slowing and even declining, brandowners can use aluminium bottles to increase shelf impact and drive value sales, according to Euromonitor analyst Rosemarie Downey.

Downey, packaging research manager at Euromonitor International, noted in a company podcast that beer was very consolidated in terms of packaging, with 98% of all products sold globally in 2011 packaged in either a glass bottle or a metal beverage can.

But she noted that metal bottle usage was growing, with Molson Coors recently rolling-out aluminium bottles across brands such as Coors Light and Caffrey's in the UK, while Heineken in the Netherlands was also using aluminium bottles with screw caps for its Heineken, to offer "shelf differentiation and easy access for the consumer".