Drinks sales 4% ahead of 2019
A combination of the Euros final, the return of the Premier League and good comparative weather, meant sales saw the best average value growth since the Platinum Jubilee weekend two months ago.
CGA by NielsenIQ’s managing director UK and Ireland Johnathan Jones said: “An exciting week on the football pitch has helped to deliver a great start for drinks sales in on premise in August.”
Flat performance
Five of the seven days saw 2022-on-2019 growth with Sunday (10%), Monday (6%), Tuesday (4%) and Wednesday (8%) having delivered solid results.
However, Thursday (0.5%) and Friday (0.6%) both saw sales dip into a flat performance as the weather turned cooler, though Saturday (up 6%) rounded the week off satisfactorily, in part thanks to the return of six Premier League fixtures, two of which were televised, and an earlier than usual start to the 2022-23 season.
Category wise, cider prevailed in the warmer summer climate, with 12% growth vs three years ago while spirits (10%), beer (5%) and soft drinks (5%) also saw decent growth, though wine (down 11%) continued to see a decline in sales.
This comes as last week’s tracker showed sales in the seven days to Saturday 30 July were 0.6% ahead of 2019.
Welcome relief
However, despite continued positive growth, with inflation still running significantly higher, the sector needs more positive weeks like this for the remainder of the summer to ensure businesses can fight back against rising costs and mounting debts, according to CGA.
Jones added: “With temperatures forecasted to soar, the appetite of casual consumers, holiday makers and day trippers will hopefully deliver strong August results.
“This will hopefully provide a welcome relief amidst the headwinds that operators and suppliers are increasingly facing, in terms of inflation, rising costs, and ongoing supply chain issues and staffing challenges.”
