Drinks sales fall flat in the new year

CGA Daily Drinks Tracker shows sales slump in first week of January 2025
Data shows: the tracker revealed drinks sales in the first full week of the year (Getty Images)

Drinks sales dropped in the first full week of January 2025 as consumers tightened their belts following the festive season.

The CGA by NIQ’s Daily Drinks Tracker, revealed average drinks sales across managed venues for the week ending Saturday 11 January were 9% lower than the same period throughout 2024.

This follows after a strong end to 2024, which saw sales rise by up to 4% and 8% year-on-year in the final two weeks within December.

Trading was also down for all seven days of the week. Sunday 5 January saw the biggest year-on-year decline, with sales up to 17% lower than the same day noted last year.

Friday and Saturday also experienced significant drops, with sales down by both 8% and 10% respectively.

CGA drinks tracker
CGA drinks tracker (CGA)

Drinks data

The Daily Drinks Tracker also recorded average drink sales in managed venues were down 9% during the seven days to Saturday 23 November compared to the same week last year.

Trading was described as “weak” throughout Autumn and into the winter months.

The decline in sales was witnessed across all alcoholic drinks categories, but spirits were hit the hardest, with sales significantly plummeting by 18%. Beer, cider and wine all experienced more modest declines, with sales down by 7%, 8%, and 8% respectively.

This suggested consumers were cutting down on more expensive, higher-tempo, and late-night events.

Sales of soft drinks also fell by 8%, indicating the decline in alcohol sales was not pushed by consumers switching to non-alcoholic choices for dry January.

A come down was to be expected

Expected comedown

CGA by NIQ commercial lead for UK and Ireland Rachel Weller said: “After the late surge in sales over Christmas and new year, a comedown was to be expected in early January.

“However, the consistency of drops across days of the week and categories suggests consumers are keeping a tighter lid than usual on their drinking and spending.”

Weller also mentioned the hard work required at this time of year to increase consumer interest in on site premises. She described a feeling of optimism for the industry going forward.

She added: “Operators and suppliers always have to work very hard to attract people out of their homes and into venues at this time of year, but we can be optimistic that people will start to feel more money in their pockets after January paydays.”