Viewpoint
MUNGO GILCHRIST CEO SPIRITS PLATFORM
MUNGO GILCHRIST FIRST CAME TO THE DRINKS INDUSTRY IN 1985 WITH JARDINE MATHESON IN JAPAN. AFTER 12 YEARS WORKING AT REMY COINTREAU IN TOKYO AND SINGAPORE, GILCHRIST ARRIVED IN AUSTRALIA ON A MIDNIGHT FLIGHT AHEAD OF INTERNATIONAL BORDER CLOSURES TO HEAD UP INDEPENDENT SPIRITS DISTRIBUTION BUSINESS, SPIRITS PLATFORM. HE TALKS TO ASHLEY PINI ABOUT THE AUSTRALIAN SPIRIT MARKET DURING THE COVID PANDEMIC. How have you found the past 12 months in the Australian market? The biggest lesson from Covid is how resilient this market is. The retail infrastructure is extremely well developed and strong. That has enabled the overall alcohol business to continue to perform well even though the on-trade was extremely depressed for several months.
ago, so we already had the benefits of that investment before COVID, and we evolved the drink strategy to focus more single-mindedly on the Margarita, which is currently the most googled cocktail in Australia. Due to COVID people were seeking elevated food and drink experiences at home, including making cocktails. A Margarita is one of the easiest cocktails to make. All this adds up to a successful outcome for Cointreau but I think we still have further to take it. We have done a good job at capturing people who are well-experienced at making cocktails, but there are still many consumers who are very new to the world of cocktails and making cocktails at home. Cointreau is at the heart of about 500 classic cocktails.
Have you seen the on-trade bounce back at all? Yes, the early days of Covid in March, April and May was complete collapse and closure. It started to pick up from June. Then Melbourne went into the second lockdown, so it was still a long way behind the previous year, although it has recovered from the national closure. From the beginning of November when Melbourne was back up and running we have seen growth every single week in the on-trade. Is there anything that is driving that? What we have seen is a premiumisation trend in Australia in spirits even before Covid. On the onset of Covid, I would say there has been a trading down for a short period, and then the premiumisation trend reasserted itself more strongly than before. For example, Australia was one of the very few markets where Champagne grew in 2020, and not just Champagne but very high-end champagne did very well.
12 drinks trade
IRI voted Cointreau as one of the hottest brands to watch and the hottest liqueur brand. Tell us about the growth of Cointreau? Cointreau is growing more than 50 per cent at the moment. Cointreau and other core brands in our portfolio were well positioned and doing quite well before COVID. Remy Cointreau started an advertising campaign investment behind Cointreau three years
What category will see strong growth in the next 12 months? I think premium liqueurs is a dark horse because of the ‘cocktails at home’ trend. I am not sure retailers have really woken up to this yet. Premium liqueurs are a great way to increase basket size because if consumers are making cocktails at home, then a liqueur is a complementary purchase to spirits, not a substitute. I see retailers squeezing the liqueurs category and making more space for gin and premium whiskies and tequilas, but premium liqueurs is a real trade opportunity.
