NABCA Releases Control States Nine-Liter Spirits Sales for August

Sept. 19, 2014 - PRLog -- During August, nine-liter spirits case sales in the control states were down 2.8% compared to same period sales last year despite a weak comp. Rolling-twelve month volume growth of 1.5% lagged July’s 1.9%. New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Utah reported monthly growth rates exceeding their twelve month trends.

Control state spirits shelf dollars were down 0.9% during August while trending at 4.0% during the past twelve months. Pennsylvania and Utah reported growth rates exceeding their twelve month trends.

Price/Mix for August is 1.9%, slipping from July’s 2.7%.

August’s Control State spirits sales as reported are not impressive. However, consider:

    - August, 2014, had the lowest growth rate of any August during the period 2000 thru 2014.

-   August, 2014, had five Sundays compared with four during last year’s August. The stores in six control states are closed on Sunday: Alabama, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Utah, and West Virginia.

-   Michigan, with 16% of the Control States’ spirits and dollars volumes, reported four weeks of sales during this August against five weeks last year (17.4% decrease in volume reported), artificially deflating sales and skewing Control States results. Michigan had seven fewer selling days during this year’s August than last year’s.

-   After normalizing nine-liter spirits case sales, August’s volumetric growth is 0.7%, and rolling-twelve month volumes are up 1.8%. Likewise, after normalizing shelf dollars, August’s control states shelf dollar growth rate is 2.9% with a twelve-month trend of 4.4%.

-   August’s normalized Price/Mix is 2.2%.

During August, Irish Whiskey, with 0.9% share of the control states spirits market, was the fastest growing category with 11.3% reported and a twelve month trend of 10.0%. Vodka, with 33% share, grew during the same periods at -3.2% and 1.2%. Irish Whiskey grew at a rate exceeding its twelve-month trends.

August’s nine-liter wine case sales growth rate was 0.8%. Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Utah, Mississippi, Montgomery County Maryland, and Wyoming reported 1.1%, 1.5, 4.6%, -5.7%, 0.0%, and -3.5%, respectively. Rolling-twelve month wine volume growth was 1.8%, nearly flat with July’s 1.7%.