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Alcohol sales up in UK: Kantar Worldpanel
Alcohol sales grew by nearly £172m ($230m) in the UK over the past 12 weeks compared to the same period last year: but Kantar Worldpanel highlights non-alcoholic beer as the ‘new kid on the block’ to watch.
Both value and volume sales of alcoholic beverages are up, with Kantar seeing consumers trade up to more expensive beverages.
Analyzing sales for the 12 weeks to December 3 2017, Kantar says total supermarket sales increased by value by 3.1% year on year.
Gin, which has enjoyed a revival in recent years thanks to its appeal across age groups and genders, was up 26%. Whisky grew by 10% and sparkling wine was up 7%.
Some consumers, however, are turning to the growing availability of zero alcohol beers. “Still small but growing rapidly, non-alcoholic beer is the new kid on the block this Christmas – growing sales by 27% during the past 12 weeks,” said Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel.
