Sparkling wine sales up 15% in last year, says Kantar

By Gemma McKenna

Published: 13 October, 2014

Sparkling wine is the fastest-growing alcohol in Great Britain, with sales up by 15% to £541 million in the past year in the off-trade, according to figures from Kantar Worldpanel.

Sparkling wine is the fastest-growing alcohol in Great Britain, with sales up by 15% to £541 million in the past year, according to figures from Kantar Worldpanel.

Sparkling Sparkling wine sales continue to surge aheadThe latest figures from Kantar Worldpanel, showing a 15% increase in sparkling wine saels in the off-trade, confirm what retailers have been saying all year long.

Sales have grown by £70 million in that time, with 40% of shoppers buying it in the past year, boosting the number of bottles sold by an extra 5 million. What's more, the research showed that shoppers are trading up - from cava to Prosecco and Prosecco to Champagne.

Kevan Mulcahey, head of alcohol at Kantar Worldpanel, said: "Shoppers are looking for something a bit special to treat themselves, and sparkling wine is a luxury product with an affordable price tag. Shoppers are trading up from Cava to Prosecco and Prosecco to Champagne, boosting sales of sparkling wine by 14.8% compared with the same time last year. Cava's growth has gone flat with sales only growing by 0.1%, whereas the more premium option, Prosecco, has enjoyed a 74.6% surge in sales over the past year alone, driving the increasing popularity of sparkling wines. Many retailers have cottoned on to this shift towards more premium alcoholic beverages and now stock high-quality own-label sparkling wines, making them very competitive options."

Some 13% of sparkling wine volume is now consumed by couples having a night in, and reasons for popping a sparkling wine cork have become less about formal occasions. Around 15% of volumes are drunk around 'having a laugh' versus 11% five years ago.

The growth is not just being felt at more upmarket retailers as discounters including Aldi and Lidl have seen sparkling wine sales grow 25.4% compare to the same time last year.

Mulcahey said discounters and online are also an uptick in sparkling wine business. "Interestingly, sparkling wine is proving popular at discount supermarkets and among online customers. The e-commerce alcohol market has been growing rapidly, up almost a quarter (24%) in the past year alone and sparkling wine has seen a 60.6% increase in sales making it the most successful category both online and in physical stores."

These findings are based on Kantar Worldpanel off-trade purchase data for the 52 weeks to July 20, 2014.

The data used in this report comes from Kantar's grocery shopper panel, which measures the purchasing behaviour of 30,000 demographically-representative households in Great Britain.

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