Drink sales start Q4 in year-on-year decline

It has been a significantly slow start in sales for the first quarter of 2024 according to the tracker, with average sales in Britain's managed venues in the week to Saturday 5 October recorded at 3% behind the same period throughout 2023.

Ultimately this entails sales overall have remained in the negative region over eight of the eleven weeks, due mostly to weather conditions across the late summer months going into early autumn.

Slow start​

Sale growth was declining on five of the total seven days within last week, according to the tracker, with weaker trading on Friday, which was down 1%, and on Saturday sales were noted at down 5% in total sale growth.

There was however, reportedly year-on-year growth of 3% and 0.3% throughout Wednesday and Thursday, compared to previous days within 2023 when train strikes had hit footfall within many areas of Britain.

Category Growth​

According to the tracker, beer and wine categories experienced a boost in sales. This was over the course of the week where beer sales were noted at 0.4% while wine was at 0.1% ahead. Soft drinks, spirits and cider were down, with soft drinks recorded at down 6%, spirits down 12% and cider down 5%.

CGA by NIQ’s commercial leader for UK and Ireland Rachel Weller said: “Britain’s weather continues to do the on premise no favours, and the cool temperatures have made for a tricky start to the last quarter,” She continued: “Fractional growth for beer and wine sales was as good as it got last week, and another double-digit decline for spirits doesn’t bode well for the run-in to Christmas."

Weller explained that certain positive economic factors do suggest consumers may be more inclined to spend more in the upcoming months. With longer term outlook on the sector remaining positive, however she stated: “year-on-year growth remains challenging for now”.

The previous tracker​ showed sales were down 6% in the week to Saturday 28 September.