Wine price hike could hit supermarket sales

15-Nov-2017 - Last updated on 16-Nov-2017 at 12:46 GMT

Shopping shift: wine prices could affect supermarket sales

Still wine sold in supermarkets accounts for a third of in-home alcohol consumption, but a potential wine shortage caused by bad weather could cause consumers to change their drinking habits.

Last month news broke that extreme weather in Italy, France and Spain could see wine production fall to its lowest levels in more than 50 years.

This is significant, considering wine sales in pubs are dramatically lower than in the off-trade, potentially leading consumers to go to the local for a glass of wine as a treat.

The research questioned whether a potential price increase in wine would nudge consumers to change their drinking habits.

£142m for the 52 weeks

The data was from shopper research agency Kantar UK, which showed retail sales volumes of alcohol were up £142m for the 52 weeks leading to 5 November.

The same research also showed around 20m adults would happily consider drinking low- and no-alcohol products, backed by further data suggesting almost half of adults have taken part in alcohol-free months.

When asked whether they intended to moderate their alcohol consumption, a vast proportion of consumers said they would, according to Kantar.

Brits drink the most alcohol (80.4% of the population), compared with the French (79.5%), the Germans (77.2%), the Spanish (76.1%) and the Italians (68.3%), according to figures from the Global Health and Wellness report last month.

Planned to drink less alcohol

Meanwhile, new research from Censuswide, which polled 2,000 consumers on behalf of Britvic, claimed more than a fifth (21%) of punters planned to drink less alcohol over Christmas compared to the holiday break last year.

More than a third (37%) plan to spend more on soft drinks over the festive period, which increase to 56% of those aged between 16 and 24.

Commercial director Russell Goldman said: “It’s clear from our research that there’s going to be a real shift towards moderate drinking this Christmas and, as a result, there is likely to be a high demand for soft drinks throughout the season.

“Offering a range of inspiring serves and using products like Teisseire syrups to create sensational experiences for customers, both with and without alcohol, will enable leisure operators to cater for this peak in demand over the festive period.”