USA: Beer sales to show steady growth
Beer sales had gone flat while wine was flying off the shelves. So beer makers decided to steal a page from wine's marketing manual and create new packaging, flavors and drinks. Now beer is coming back. It regains popularity with spirited marketing, Associated Press released on May 09.
The major brewers ''blended, became the same,'' says Nick Lake, beer expert at ACNielsen, the marketing information company. ''If they didn't have the brand in some ads - a Budweiser ad, a Miller Lite ad, a Coors ad -- if they didn't have the can in it, it could be any one of the three,'' said Lake, the company's vice president of new business development.
Now, brewers are pitching their beer as cooler, classier and healthier, trying to do for their beverage what Starbucks has done for coffee.
The result is that people are finally buying more beer. After idling for the past couple of years, beer sales have shown steady growth in recent months, Lake said. Craft beers and imports are driving the growth.
For the 12 months ending April 22, national beer sales totaled $4.071 billion, up about 1.4 percent from a year earlier, according to ACNielsen. Most of the increase was due to double-digit sales increases for imported brands and the so-called craft brands. In all, 231 million cases were sold at food, drug and convenience stores combined, up 1 percent from a year earlier.
Beer is still the drink of choice for at least half the people who drink alcohol in the United States, but wine and spirits have been enticing more and more drinkers.
The biggest sales potential is in so-called ''craft'' beers and imports, ACNielsen says. Anheuser-Busch recently signed a deal to distribute imports including Grolsch and Harbin. Miller's parent, SABMiller PLC, also sells Pilsner Urquell.
Recently, the St. Louis-based beer giant has rolled out several products, including two organic certified micro-brew styles, Stone Mill Pale Ale and Wild Hop Lager.
They've also created a malt beverage, Peels, made with all-natural fruit. That's on top of Anheuser-Busch's B-to-the-E and Tilt, which has caffeine, ginseng and guarana, a Brazilian stimulant.
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