Beer lifts sales of wine

By DITA DE BONI

Shoppers buying beer in supermarkets for the first time in December may have also boosted supermarket wine sales.

The large chains will not reveal sales figures at this early stage, but say wines sales have grown with strong premium beer revenue - both helped by Sunday trading.

If the trend continues, supermarket table wine could top its most recent sales figure of $225 million a year.

Wine accounts for 3 per cent of total supermarket turnover, and is the second most popular consumable behind bread.

Beer sales have been predicted to eventually make up as much as 5 per cent of supermarket turnover, although the managing director of Foodstuffs, Hugh Perritt, says that is a long-term estimate.

"Beer is a shrinking market, but we have a more extensive range of beer than the traditional retailers, who have been aligned with either one large brewery or another," he says.

"It's a bit early to say, but we've noticed a high interest in premium beers, and have managed to maintain reasonable prices."

Ted van Arkel of Progressive Enterprises was pleased with beer sales over Christmas.

On paper, between 20 and 25 per cent of all beer is now sold through supermarkets.

But that figure includes "stockpiled" beer ordered by supermarkets before the December 1 change in legislation which allowed them to sell it.

For that reason, the major breweries were also secretive yesterday about supermarket beer sales, saying it was almost impossible to know how much beer had been sold and how much was still in stock.

They were also wary of making forecasts on the success rate of beer in supermarkets until Christmas and the New Year were off the measurement periods.

Lion Breweries' national sales director, Peter Kean, said Steinlager and Stella Artois had been popular over Christmas, but the company would have a clearer picture at the end of February.

In Britain, supermarkets account for more than 50 per cent of beer sales.

But Alan Gourdie, sales and marketing general manager for DB Breweries, says a total market of 40 to 45 per cent in five years is more realistic for New Zealand.

He said December sales had "exceeded expectations" but he would not "annualise" the results.

"At the moment, we are factoring in one-time Christmas buyers and millennium celebrations, as well as the popularity of a product which appeared on supermarket shelves for the first time," he said.

"But we are sure supermarkets will command a large chunk of the market in the future - when around 350 of them enter the market, some smaller retail operators are bound to lose their share."

One Super Liquor outlet spokesman who did not want to be named said beer sales had been substantially down during the Christmas break - usually a busy time - and the outlet was "whacked" on Christmas Eve.

He said also in December, a "not quite offsetting" increase in sales of spirits had been noticed.

But overall, he said, people were spending less.