BY RICHARD BRANDES T
hough we had an uneven economy overall in 2011, the wine and spirits industry apparently stabilized compared to the weakness of 2008-2009 and the modest growth of 2010. Indeed, the American economy itself appears to be headed in a sustained positive direction, as most economic indicators have shown in early 2012, and wine and spirits sales are likely to pick up along with the economy, particularly among higher-end products. [Of course, as all economists point out, any exogenous events – such as dangerous political crises or wars, huge natural disasters, etc. - could easily change all that.] Still, overall wine and spirits sales volume increased nicely in 2011, according to the latest statistics, just
released in the Handbook Advance 2012, published by the Beverage Information Group. U.S. distilled spirits sales volume rose to approximately 197.1 million 9-liter cases, representing a 2.6% gain versus 2010 (which saw an increase of 1.9% sales volume over 2009). And overall spirits retail revenue growth (the combined dollar total of off- and on-premise sales) also increased, by 3.0% to $67.66 billion, a $2 billion jump over 2010. It turns out that a large part of that increase is the result of more sales activity at the premium and above-premium price segments.
In fact, the latest statistics from The Nielsen Company note that sales of "ultra-premium" spirits in the U.S. (at an average selling price of $35.92) rose 10.6% in
18 • Beverage Dynamics • www.beveragedynamics.com • March/April 2012
