Soft drinks fuel double-digit on trade sales increase
Soft drinks were a key driver during Dry January, contributing to a third consecutive week of inflation-beating rise in on-trade beverage sales.
The latest Drinks Recovery Tracker from CGA by NielsenIQ reveals that average sales for the week ending January 21 were 11% higher than the same period in 2022.
In the first week of January, growth reached 24%, decreasing to 13% in the second week, but remaining above the inflation rate of 10.5%.
In the week ending January 21, beer sales increased by 14% compared to the same week in 2022. Wine also performed well, increasing 15% year-over-year, while spirits declined 3% compared to 2022.
According to Alcohol Change UK, approximately 9 million people participated in Dry January this year, so it’s hardly surprising that soft drinks have been a main growth driver this month.
The category experienced an 18% rise in sales compared to the same week last year, indicating that customers may be engaging with the alcohol-free category like never before.
“With year-over-year growth above inflation so far in January, it is evident that customers are as eager as ever to drink out,” says Jonathan Jones, CGA’s managing director for the United Kingdom and Ireland.
“Strong soft drink sales indicate” Dry January need not drive people away from pubs and bars, and it shows the category’s increased quality and inventiveness. But the fact that sales of alcoholic drinks are going down shows that many people are trying to save money.
“It is also vital to keep in mind that comparisons are with an extremely challenging January 2022, so additional year-over-year improvement in the next months is unlikely.”
In fact, the robust start for the on-premises environment in 2023 contrasts starkly with the trading environment at the start of 2022, which was threatened by the Coronavirus Omicron strain.
The CGA tracker reveals that beverages sales increased year-over-year on all seven days of the previous week, with double-digit growth on six of those days. On Sunday, January 15th, comparisons were 17% higher than on the same day in 2022.