Stocking up for Christmas: Get the drinks in

How do you decide what to prioritise at Christmas? Phil Mellows finds out.

With so many brands and drinks categories clamouring for attention as the festive season approaches, publicans have to make some tough decisions about what to focus on. Fridge space, in particular, is limited, and choosing what drinks get the prime positions depends on both their profitability and an understanding of what your customers are looking for at this time of year.

The conundrum is sometimes compounded by the conflicting messages that come from suppliers. Speciality beers, for instance, are a fast-growing sector of the beer market and Christmas could be an ideal time to cash in on drinkers' interest in them, so it's understandable that Geoff Bradman, managing director of distributor Hamana, which handles antipodean imports such as Tooheys and Steinlager, is keen for licensees to make some space in the chiller for them.

"Speciality beers fit naturally with the Christmas occasion," he says, and recommends reducing facings of other beers, RTDs and soft drinks in order to get specialities on display.

"Most pub-goers will realise the major bottled beers are stocked anyway, and you may also have them on draught, so place more intriguing and interesting brands on the top shelf to encourage trial," he suggests. "With RTDs in decline you can also afford to reduce their facings - PPLs are now outperforming RTDs by 10 per cent. You can also replace soft drinks with some more profitable lines."

That won't go down too well with the soft drinks companies. In contrast, Britvic wants licensees to be aware of the opportunities to sell more soft drinks that the festive season holds.

"During the Christmas period, customers are travelling with families and are more conscious of drinking responsibly," explains category director Andrew Marsden. "Any licensee looking to improve profits this Christmas should follow one simple guideline - stock up on the big name brands and make them visible in the chiller."

One observation that matches Geoff Bradman's analysis, however, is that your customers will be looking for something a little special, even when it comes to softs. "We've witnessed a shift in on-trade soft drinks sales towards healthier and more premium offerings and the festive season is also a time of indulgence, so people will seek a more sophisticated and premium drink," says Andrew.

"Licensees and manufacturers are working together to deliver the greater soft drinks options consumers are demanding."

Mulling it over...​

Mulled wine is, of course, a classic winter drink. It not only warms you inside but also delivers that Christmas craving for indulgence. So why don't more pubs serve it?

The answer, as you've guessed, that it's too much bother. You've got to mix the spices and keep the wine warm - or else make it as you go along. If you get the busy festive season you're hoping for, it's probably not practical.

But this year Eliot's, the UK's leading brand of mulled wine, has developed a new dispenser which keeps a premixed mulled wine at ambient temperature and is heated, by the glass, as required.

As well as the convenience this offers barstaff, Eliot's argues that freshness is maintained without the problem of the wine turning bitter as a result of constant reheating.

Sales manager Adrian Bullett believes mulled wine has been, until now, a literally untapped opportunity for pubs. "The point about mulled wine is that it's mainly incremental sales," he says. "When people are feeling cold and festive they will have a glass of mulled wine and then carry on with their usual drink. In fact, because it's cooling down it's drunk more quickly and our research shows that 72 per cent of people who order a mulled wine will have another one straight away.

"We're sure pubs would like to sell a hot alcoholic beverage but it's a pain in the backside for them. So we've spent seven years working on a bar kettle that can enable them to serve mulled wine by the glass."

Eliot's wine is blended by Germany's biggest gluhwein manufacturer using sweetened red wine, orange juice, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and other aromatic spices. Adrian recommends that licensees sell it at premium to their house wine as it's "not price sensitive".

A WKD idea​

Better advertised brands sell more at Christmas. That's the conclusion from Beverage Brands' analysis of last year's festive season which showed a direct correlation between consumer awareness of advertising campaigns and sales across the bar.

"We are in no doubt that marketing activity which keeps brands front-of-mind with consumers will play a key role in determining success," says Karen Salters, marketing director at the maker of RTD WKD.

Putting its money where its mouth is, Beverage is splashing out £4m on media support for the WKD range this Christmas, £2.5m of it on the launch of the new WKD Red which the company believes will add fresh impetus to the RTD category for the festive season.

"But it's not just about the amount you spend, it's how creative you are and how and where you spend it that's just as important," says Karen.

"Our aim this Christmas is to ensure our advertising is placed exactly where our consumers will see it. We'll be talking to them with posters on their way to work, when they're reading the paper in their tea break, when they watch football on TV or a film at the cinema - and when they are in the pub.

"We'll also be providing promotional support to help licensees create some theatre in their pub."

The Christmas WKD promotion offers drinkers a "meal for two" - but it's a meal with a difference - a colourful Christmas pudding-shaped bikini top for the girls and a turkey head for the boys!

Christmas drinks round-up​

• Christmas cask ale Festive Feasant​ will be back in Hall & Woodhouse​ pubs and the Dorset brewer's freetrade accounts from this month. The mid-gravity brew certainly did the business for Badger Ales last year, selling double the amount of its previous winter seasonal ale. "Consumers love the quirky personality of Festive Feasant," says marketing manager Rick Payne. "It's a great ale that perfectly matches proper hearty winter warming dishes like stews and thick vegetable soup."

If you want to get a beer with a difference for your back-bar fridge you could try Little Creatures​. The Aussie bottle-conditioned pale ale takes its name from the yeast - or "little creatures" - that performs the secondary fermentation in the bottle. New to importer Hamana's​ portfolio it weighs in at 5.2 per cent ABV and is already stocked by the bar at the Tate Modern.

There's nothing like a bit of fizz to fit the festive glitter and Blossom Hill​ has chosen buying-in time to introduce two new sparkling wines, a white and a rose. They follow research by distributor Percy Fox which shows that six in 10 Blossom Hill drinkers like to get fizzy. A campaign targeting women's media supports the October launch.

Customers will be looking for something a little classy at Christmas - and an aged single malt can fit the bill. Maxxium UK​ feels it has just the dram in its just-launched Highland Park 30-year-old​. The oldest expression in the Orkney whisky's range is made from spirits matured in 75 per cent sherry casks and is bottled at a powerful 48.1 per cent ABV. Appropriately for the f