Double digit sales hike in March for wine and spirits

By Harpers Editorial

Published: 12 April, 2013

An early Easter propelled wine sales by 13% and spirits by 20% in the supermarkets while beer sales grew by just 1% during March.

According to figures released by Nielsen, BWS was the second fastest growing FMCG category last month, with sales up 12% compared with the four weeks to March 30 2012.

Nielsen drinks analyst Helen Stares said it was too soon to tell if the different sales rates of wine, spirits and beer was down to customers stocking up before the tax hikes on wine and spirits took effect, the weather, or other factors.

The early Easter also led to a 41% increase in confectionery sales, with bakery sales up 10% and packaged grocery up 8%. Total food and drink sales in the supermarkets were up 6.2% year-on-year.

A key sales driver was a 24% increase in TV and press advertising spend by the ten supermarkets tracked by Nielsen, amounting to £32.9 million. The increase reflects that Easter didn't fall within the four weeks ending 31 March 2012 as it did this year.

With a £6.6 million spend, Tesco splashed out the most on advertising, closely followed by Morrisons at £6.4 million and Aldi at £5 million. Asda was the only one of the top five supermarkets to reduce its advertising spend compared to last year.

Waitrose increased its ad spend the most, more than doubling spend to £2.5 million."Although all the grocery multiples benefited, Waitrose was able to surf the rising Easter tide better and longer than its competition. Its significant increase in TV and press spend helped attract 11% more shoppers and contributed to stellar sales growths of +19.5% in the last four weeks," said Nielsen's UK head of retailer insight Mike Watkins.

Printer friendly version