CATEGORY OVERVIEW
CIDER WESTONS
NEW CIDER REPORT HIGHLIGHTS BOOM YEAR FOR THE OFF-TRADE THE SIXTH EDITION OF WESTONS’ ANNUAL CIDER REPORT REVEALS THE BIGGEST-EVER VALUE GROWTH IN THE OFF-TRADE CIDER CATEGORY.
T
he national lockdown produced a huge swing in cider consumption from the on-trade to the off-trade during 2020, resulting in the biggest year on record for the off-trade cider category, according to the latest edition of Westons Cider’s annual Cider Report. The report shows record growth for cider in grocery retail – up 21.2% year-on-year – taking overall value to £1.3bn through the channel. The study also reveals that almost half of UK households (47.7%) now buy in to the category, which attracted almost a million more shoppers in 2020. The full or partial closure of hospitality outlets during the lockdown periods in 2020 skewed the sales returns from the channels significantly, with the off-trade accounting for 63% of cider value and 83% of the volume during 2020, compared to
35% and 62% respectively in the previous year, while the on-trade suffered a corresponding reverse. With volumes and price per litre generally significantly higher in the ontrade, the total cider market was down 12.2% in volume and 32.1% in value YOY – the equivalent of £2.1bn. Tim Williams, Insight and Innovation Manager at Westons Cider, comments: “The past year has been undeniably challenging for retailers and suppliers alike. The initial surge in demand in the off-trade meant that production of priority, bestselling SKUs had to be ramped up significantly. However, the outlook for the cider category is no doubt a positive one, as it has yet again shown itself to be buoyant and in high demand.” Online and convenience cider sales predictably boomed, up 81.4% and 19.0% respectively, in both cases ahead of the 17.9% growth seen in the total grocery market. In convenience, the crafted cider subcategory reached triple digit growth, with independents seeing volume growth of 153.4% YOY.
WEDNESDAY 14TH APRIL 2021 / ISSUE 51 / SLRMAG.CO.UK / 15
