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If Covid-19 gave us anything, it was a great excuse to drink too much. It might come as a surprise, then, to learn that overall booze sales in the on and off-trade slumped by 35% year on year to 1.3 billion litres in the first lockdown [Nielsen and CGA].
Of course, supermarket booze sales went through the roof with pubs shut for much of the year, surging 19.4% on volumes up 18.1% [Kantar 52 w/e 4 October 2020]. But these gains were dwarfed by the percentage growth of low & no-alcohol beer, spirits, cider and wine. Sales are up 31.2% on volumes up 29.7% [52 w/e 1 November 2020].
That makes them the fastest growing area of adult soft drinks, delivering £44.1m of the category’s £86.5m growth. “Shoppers are increasingly looking to moderate their alcohol,” says Kantar analyst Oliver Bluring. “There are signs sales will continue to grow, with 24.4% of the population buying into low & no alcohol, and new products still coming onto the market.”