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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www.beveragedynamics.com January/February 2015 • Beverage Dynamics 27 Imported Beer Rasmussen says, "If you were going to put these brands into buckets, it would probably be 'style' versus 'sensory.' Peroni was founded in the sixties, when "Made in Italy" was this badge of quality and style. From a sales and marketing standpoint, we target beer drinkers in more stylish, upscale accounts," an approach that echoes the posi- tioning of other European lagers. Pilsner Urquell, by contrast, leads the other cluster of brands—the "sensory" cluster—that share more of a specialty beer focus. "Pilsner Urquell is the beer that defi nes a style. It behaves just like a craft beer does," Rasmussen says. "If you put it in a craft beer account, the velocity numbers are very high. If you put it in a non-craft account, is performance will be average." RETAIL RETHINKS IMPORT CLASSIFICATIONS Some retailers are also rethinking the monolithic view of imports. Kevin Schulke is the Senior Category Manager for Price Chopper, which operates 136 stores in six Northeast states. Like the Miller- Coors / 10th and Blake distinction, Price Chopper treats its Cana- dian beers separately. "For our purposes, we consider the Canadian brands not to be imports," he says. "We consider them to be part of our premium class because of the way they are priced here; they're priced the same as Miller, Bud and Coors." Given the proximity to Canada, the Canadian brands are important to the chain, with a share of about 7 percent. Over the past year, Corona and Heineken sales have both lagged at Price Chopper, pulling down numbers for the whole import cat- egory (excluding Canadian). The Hispanic population is relatively small in most areas served by Price Chopper, with the exception of Connecticut and the lower part of New York, "There is substantial infl uence of the Hispanic population there," Schulke says. "They're certainly getting more of the Mexican beer share there than are more northern areas." With import sales for the chain at 13 percent and craft sales in the mid-20s, Schulke acknowledges that some specialty imports are doing well. "I think that's the sweet spot for imports, those that can distinguish themselves as something different, because clearly the consumer is looking for better quality," he says. "An import should be in a position to make that statement as easily as many of the craft brands can." On the other coast, the BevMo! stores cater more explicitly to the specialty beer shopper. Brian Bowden say,s "What we are seeing and what we're pushing is not the mainstream: the Cor- onas, the Heinekens, the Becks of the world. Our consumer is leaning more towards the Belgian beers. If they're doing some of the Mexican beers, it's a little bit different, more Bohemia or Negro Modelo." BevMo! offers more obscure beers. "For us, these beers are a little bit more fun to promote and play with," Bowden says. "It gives the consumer something to go out and hunt and fi nd, and experiment with. What we are doing now with imports and craft is we're mixing it up with food pairings - have a beer with dinner versus a glass of wine." This approach infl uences store layout, he adds: "We set up craft beers by style, and imports by country. Then we put the domestics kind of in the malt beverage section." The big imported brands appeal through elaborate marketing that the smaller brands don't have—or perhaps don't want. "With these other beers like the Belgians, you hardly see any kind of advertising; it's all word-of-mouth," Bowden says. "When you're talking about the upscale imported beers, those consumers are going back and forth between the imports and craft. It's a more educated consumer, and I think that's why they're doing well." Once imported beers and their supporters are recognized for being as diverse as domestic beers and their supporters, this segment of the beer market should make a lot more sense. BD (000 2.25-Gallon Cases) 12/13 Brand Supplier Country 2012 2013 % Chg Corona Extra Crown Imports Mexico 100,660 102,370 1.7% Heineken Heineken USA The Netherlands 55,460 53,240 -4.0% Modelo Especial Crown Imports Mexico 42,440 49,080 15.6% Dos Equis Heineken USA Mexico 19,650 22,490 14.5% Stella Artois AB InBev Belgium 17,510 20,900 19.4% Tecate Heineken USA Mexico 15,880 15,050 -5.2% Corona Light Crown Imports Mexico 13,460 13,860 3.0% Guinness Stout Diageo-Guinness Ireland/Canada 12,900 13,020 0.9% Labatt Blue N.A. Breweries Canada 9,520 9,380 -1.5% Labatt Blue Light N.A. Breweries Canada 6,920 6,750 -2.5% Total Leading Brands 294,400 306,140 4.0% Others 76,820 73,700 -4.1% Total Imports 371,220 379,840 2.3% Source: The Beverage Information & Insights Group. To learn more go to www.bevinfostore.com LEADING IMPORTED BEER BRANDS