Beverage Dynamics is the largest national business magazine devoted exclusively to the needs of off-premise beverage alcohol retailers, from single liquor stores to big box chains, through coverage of the latest trends in wine, beer and spirits.
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their laps, and they multitask. The same thing is happening at retail. Consumer sets have exploded. Instead of maybe three as in the past, they have a set of 15 different beers that they enjoy with different sets of friends on different occasions. And they also drink across beverage alcohol categories." Younger consumers may be just as brand loyal as older generations, but their loyalties are spread thinner. That creates a tremendous amount of competition for consumers' attention. A lot of craft brewers are going to literal extremes to attract them. "Young people are looking for extremes," said Jeff Coleman, president of Paulaner/HP USA, "really hoppy or high alcohol content, for example. Per capita consumption keeps declining, and I think it could be because the first beer is interesting, but you don't need or want a second one. It's not like the days when drinkable beers were more popular." Growing The Business B ut importers see a couple of factors weighing in their favor. One is the fact that consumers often can't drink more than one craft beer. The other is age. "People are looking for interesting and unique tastes," said Verschoor, "but there are only so many you can drink. Craft drinkers often turn to imports as their second one." "What brands like Fuller's have," Coleman said, "is balance. I'm not sure there's a way to capture that entry level consumer, but I think—I hope—they'll graduate to products like ours after they're done experimenting." Imports have traditionally appealed to somewhat older consumers, but that doesn't mean brewers aren't pursuing entry-level drinkers. With new products and edgy marketing programs, a number of brands are aggressively trying to regain share from craft beers and grow the business. Perhaps the best way to do that at retail is take a page out of A-B InBev's playbook. The brewer divides its portfolio into three types of beers—global brands, multi-country beers and local champions. Global brands like Guinness, Beck's, Heineken, Stella Artois and Corona are recognized around the world, and often tend to be go-to staples for retail customers. Multi-country brands are those that are popular in their home countries and a few others. Brands like Pilsner Urquell, Bass Ale, Peroni, Kirin, Fuller's, Red Stripe and many others likely fall in this category. Last are those beers that are popular in their own countries, but little known outside them. Examples are Aquila from Colombia or Antarctica from Brazil. Retailers can use the same strategy to meet the needs of customers, stocking the global brands that consumers expect, the multi-country beers like Leffe and Peroni that customers may be familiar with but haven't tried yet, and some local champions that could work well in a particular store or market area, like Vietnamese beers 33 or Halida in a west coast city or near an international district, for example. The globalization of the industry has put all these brands in reach. The problem now is defining what an imported beer really is. Part of the reason for consolidation is to find efficiencies. For the big brewers, that now means brewing brands closer to local markets. SABMiller, Diageo and Sapporo brew Foster's, Guinness and Sapporo, respectively, in Canada, which technically still makes them imports here in the U.S. But A-B InBev brews Bass Ale and Beck's in St. Louis, which makes them as American as Budweiser, but are they still import brands as far as consumers are concerned? "When you buy a real import," Coleman said, "you're buying a cheap ticket to Ireland or Germany or wherever the import comes from, and you get to have a little experience of being in that country, but if the beer is from St. Louis, is it the same thing? Everybody's % Change holding their breath to see 2012p '11/'12 what happens with brands . . . . .100,660 . . . . . . .2.0% like Beck's. It's priced the . . . . . .55,160 . . . . . . .1.4% same as Warsteiner at . . . . . .42,440 . . . . . .20.6% . . . . . .18,680 . . . . . .16.0% about $10.99 a six-pack, . . . . . .17,110 . . . . . .18.0% but it's brewed about 6,000 . . . . . .15,780 . . . . . .-2.0% miles closer." Leading Imported Beer Brands (000 2.25-Gallon Cases) Brand Brewer 2011 Corona Extra . . . . . . . . .Crown Imports . . . . .98,684 Heineken . . . . . . . . . . . . .Heineken USA . . . . . . .54,400 Modelo Especial . . . . . .Crown Imports . . . . .35,194 Dos Equis . . . . . . . . . . . .Heineken USA . . . . . . .16,100 Stella Artois . . . . . . . . . .AB InBev . . . . . . . . . . .14,500 Tecate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Heineken USA . . . . . . .16,100 Corona Light . . . . . . . . .Crown Imports . . . . .13,140 Guinness Stout . . . . . . .Diageo-Guinness . . . .12,450 Labatt Blue . . . . . . . . . . .N.A. Breweries . . . . . .10,450 Newcastle Brown Ale . .Heineken USA . . . . . . .7,000 Total Leading Brands 278,018 Others 89,582 Total Imported Beer 367,600 . . . . . .13,460 . . . . . .12,200 . . . . . . .9,930 . . . . . . .7,210 292,630 79,430 372,060 (p) Preliminary. Source: Handbook Advance 44 • Beverage Dynamics • www.beveragedynamics.com • May/June 2013 . . . . . . .2.4% . . . . . .-2.0% . . . . . .-5.0% . . . . . . .3.0% 5.3% -11.3% 1.2% Brand Plans O ne thing's for sure: the import segment continues to grow, and in the last year or so as the industry has recovered from the recession, they've made the biggest contribution to