Solid Easter Brings 7% Drinks Sales Growth

Easter holidays and decent weather helped managed On Premise venues achieve a 7% year-on-year increase in drinks sales over the three weeks to last Saturday (22 April)

CGA by NIQ’s Drinks Recover y Tracker has shown an 18% increase in the first week of April, followed by drops of 3% and 7% in the next two weeks Comparisons are skewed by the way Easter dates fell in the calendar in 2022 and 2023, but the threeweek comparison provides the most accurate picture of trading over the period

The 7% growth shows consumers remain eager to drink out in the On Premise However, with inflation as measured by the Consumers Prices Index continuing to top 10%, year-on-year sales remained slightly down in real terms over Easter

In the latest week, sales on Sunday and Monday suffered from comparisons to the key Easter dates in 2022, but they recovered to track 6% ahead on Wednesday Thursday and Friday (19 to 21

April) before dipping 1% on Saturday (22 April) amid wetter weather

Wine sales were up by 3% last week continuing a welcome revival of the categor y which had a difficult 2022 as the On Premise emerged from COVID-19 Beer sales were flat while cider and soft drinks were down 10% and 13% respectively The spirits categor y continues to suffer from tough 2022 comparisons, with sales running 22% behind

“Considering all the pressure on consumers ’ disposable income , the solid performance over the Easter period is encouraging, and shows that they are prioritising the On Premise over other discretionar y spend” says Jonathan Jones, CGA’s managing director, UK and Ireland “With the next five weeks containing three bank holidays we can expect fur ther positive performance , especially if the weekends are accompanied by warmer weather ”