S&NUK brews plan to halt falling sales
Scottish & Newcastle UK (S&NUK) has issued a rallying call to the industry to help halt falling wet sales in pubs.
The brewer, which produces Fosters, Kronenbourg, and John Smith's, unveiled a wide-reaching strategy which it claims can help sales recover if the whole industry gets on board.
The company's Category Vision is based on consumer research revealing who is drinking what and where in the UK market.
The aim is to achieve an increase of more than £700m in on-trade sales by encouraging every customer to buy just one extra drink every quarter.
The brewer has been talking to key retailers and other drinks suppliers about its findings, and will be sending its salesforce to pubs to help licensees decide how best to encourage consumers to spend more.
Advice will centre on key drivers of growth (below), and will look at everything from product range and service standards, to staff training, décor, back-bar set-up and point-of-sale material.
David Jones, head of communications for S&NUK, said: "Our industry has whinged a lot about falling volumes and then continued to work at stealing market share from our competitors. We still have a chance to address this issue before its too late there is a lot of life left in the British pub."
- Figures released by AC Nielsen this week show UK beer sales in independent pubs are down 9.4 per cent in the 12 months from January 2007 to 2008.
Key drivers for growth
- The S&NUK Category Vision highlighted the following drivers that publicans need to embrace to grow their business:
- With food encouraging drink and food matching and occasions
- Female appeal making traditionally male products more attractive to females
- Bloke pub time events and entertainment to attract men back to pubs
- Personal reward offering premium brands for a treat or reward
- Care and control providing healthier options
