Trading down beers
Posted
Jul 28 2009, 01:07 PM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Americans are still drinking beer in the recession, but they're trading down to cheaper brands. And I'm not talking about going from Bass to Bud Light. Try a drop from Bud Light to Busch and Keystone.
Beer companies usually do their best business leading up to the July 4 holiday, AdAge.com reports. But sales this year compared with last year were miserable for some brands under Anheuser-Busch (AHBIY). Its Bud Light and Budweiser saw drops of 7% and 14% in the two weeks ending July 5. Miller Lite sales fell 9%. Importers for Corona and Heineken also saw big plunges.
Overall, AdAge reports, sales volume dropped 5.5% for Anheuser-Busch and 3.3% for MillerCoors.
So what are people drinking? Subpremium beers, including Busch, Natural Light and Keystone. Those brands posted "substantial gains," AdAge reports. (Update: Anheuser-Busch also owns Busch and Natural Light, and Keystone is owned by Coors).
Another standout was Bud Light Lime, which saw a 9% increase. That might have cut into sales of regular Bud Light.
The shifting sales are casting some doubt on the effectiveness of current beer ads.
Image credit: Kevin Jaako, Creative Commons attribution 2.0 license
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