2024 vs. 2018 - Beer Sales Still Chugging Along

While brainstorming and researching a topic for this month’s blog post, we came across our blog post from 6 years ago:

August 13, 2018 | Sign Shop Management

Is America’s Long Love Affair with Beer Really On-the-Rocks?

 

It struck us that the beer headlines in 2024 read much the same, and yet, beer sales are still chugging along... In today’s blog we look at the similarities between beer news headlines in 2018 and today. And try to determine what – if anything – has changed.

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In August 2018, our blog post started: Big beer sales are down and the remedy, thus far, is to raise prices. Breweries are starting to track their distributors POS “investments” as part of an initiative to increase sales. OnTrak’s POS Tracking Software can help collect the data they need.

 

In July, 2024, the beer headlines look much the same. Here are two from this morning that our AI news tracker surfaced:

Molson Coors Beverage Co Adapting to Market Challenges and Catering to Changing Consumer Tastes

Spirits Set to Overtake Wine as Global Drinking Habits Change

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From our 2018 blog:

Wasn’t it Bob Dylan who said:

“You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows”?

Of course, it was.

Who do you think said?

“Budweiser and to a lesser extent Bud Light are ‘dead beers walking’ they just don’t know it yet”?

(Well, under penalty of death I’ve been sworn to secrecy regarding the specific source.)

In 2024, we’ve read quotes and interviews that say much the same thing. For instance, in an article from January:

“Spirits have continually taken market share from beer and wine over the past decades”

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We will concede that beer may be losing some popularity as a bevy of new options continue to flood the market. RTD’s, canned wines, brand colabs… But the point is, beer is still here! From the Wall Street Journal in April:

 

Constellation Brands 4Q Sales Beat Estimates With Help from Beer Demand Strength - WSJ

 

And from an industry rag:

ANHEUSER-BUSCH INBEV BRANDS CLAIM 8 OF TOP 10 IN KANTAR’S LIST OF “MOST VALUABLE BEER BRANDS” GLOBALLY.

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We don’t have some industry-shaking point we’re trying to make with this post. It simply caught our attention that beer’s “demise” was being heralded in 2018, and here we are 6 years later, beer still “chugging” away. And we don’t see that changing.

 

Of course, distributors play a MAJOR role in keeping those sales rolling. And you continue to do great work in this critical job. One of the important ways to help strengthen your beer sales is with proper marketing and promotion. Permanent and custom printed POS marketing play an important role in capturing shoppers’ attention in-store. And properly monitoring your marketing placements and sales data helps give you the full picture of what is happening in your accounts.

 

If you need help managing your POS marketing or if you are lacking the data you need to analyze what is happening in your market, our tools can help.  CLICK HERE to schedule a no-obligation consult.