Beers, spirits, champagne ... While bars and restaurants have been closed since October and the sale of take-away alcohol has been banned since the beginning of April, the purchase of alcohol in supermarkets has seen a sharp increase in the first quarter 2021. Beer and cider sales increased 18.5% in turnover and 15.9% in volume compared to the first quarter of 2020, according to an IRI study.
These sales were driven by specialty beers which were up 25.7% from the first quarter of 2020.
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Spirits and champagnes are very popular with consumers.
Their sales benefit from an increase of 15.3% in the first quarter of 2021 in turnover and 13% in volume.
117% increase in champagne sales
Particularly noteworthy, sales of champagne exploded in March with an increase in turnover of 117.6% compared to March 2020. Sparkling wines are also performing well with an increase in turnover generated by 41.6% for the month of March.
All types of alcohol are also affected by this growth such as whiskey and rum.
Rum sales have indeed accelerated by 25.2% over the quarter as a whole.
Whiskey recorded an increase of 11.5% in March.
The month of March is indeed a special month for the French with the return of confinement. In March alone, the growth in consumer purchases of spirits and champagnes was 23.8%, while it was around 11% in February and 9% in January. It is important to remember that March 2020 had also been a singular month for the French with the entry into the first confinement. A situation which then led to a drop in the consumption of champagnes and spirits of more than 5%.
Despite the renewed interest of consumers in alcohol, the mass distribution sector did not reach the records of the first confinement.
All supermarkets including e-commerce saw a drop in overall turnover of nearly 1 billion euros in March compared to March 2020, partly caused by a drop of nearly 20% of sales on “savory groceries” and more than 15% on cleaning and hygiene products.
The growth in alcohol sales has proven to be a strong economic support for supermarkets.
Spirits and champagnes notably contributed 48% of their earnings in March 2021.
According to the latest white paper from the YouGov institute, 15% of French people say they have increased their alcohol consumption since the start of the pandemic.
In detail, the French are 4.6% to have strongly increased their alcohol consumption and 10.6% declared to know a slight increase.
This study was carried out in December 2020 with more than 18,000 people.
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While the government is working on reopening the terraces of bars, cafes and restaurants for mid-May, the sale of alcohol in supermarkets could be impacted by this reopening.
