Alcohol sales in the UK increased significantly during August due to the Rio Olympics, according to retail performance data released by Nielsen. The market research company believes that UK fans celebrating Olympic success accounted for the increase in alcohol sales during August.
The four week time period saw overall beer and cider purchases rise by 4.7% more than the same time period last year, while value sales increased even more at 6.9%.
According to Nielsen, this increase amounts to an additional £27 million spent on alcohol this year, or 15 million extra pints consumed.
Nielsen representative Jon Sheppard said: “What’s encouraging to see is that this [growth] has helped boost overall 52-week performance – with lager now growing over the year – value ahead of volume (+1.2% and +1.1% respectively),”
“Furthermore, this is also helping to recover some of the cider declines we’ve seen of late with the yearly level of volume drop halved due to just these four weeks.”
“It’s safe to say that both retailers and brewers alike will be pleased with this recent sales performance,”
“20 out of the top 30 brands grew faster than their yearly average and, whilst this growth was driven by the grocery multiples, impulse retailers saw the four-weeks sales in the black versus last year, after a generally torrid year for the channel.”
“In fact, this was the strongest four-weeks sales rise in the summer that wasn’t football related since the now-fabled heatwave of July 2013 when volume sales rose by 27%.”
Sheppard is convinced that retailers have not seen the end of the alcohol boom, adding:
“With the recent good spell of weather set to continue into next weekend, consumer confidence flat and the country’s mood boosted by Team GB’s success in Rio, the summer certainly isn’t over and these sales could rise even further. This would be a welcome boost, after an early summer tainted by a rainy June and England’s early departure from Euro 2016.”
