NABCA Releases Control States Nine-Liter Spirits Sales for January

Feb. 23, 2015 - PRLog -- During January, nine-liter spirits case sales in the control states were flat, down 0.2%, compared to same period sales last year. Rolling-twelve month volume growth, 2.2%, lagged December’s 2.5%. Alabama, Idaho, Montgomery County Maryland, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia, and Vermont reported monthly growth rates exceeding their twelve month trends.

Control state spirits shelf dollars were up 2.7% during January while trending at 4.8% during the past twelve months. Alabama, Idaho, Montgomery County Maryland, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia, and Vermont reported growth rates exceeding their twelve month trends.

Price/Mix for January is 2.9%, mirroring December.

January’s Control State spirits growth was affected, to some extent, by the calendar:

     - January, 2015, had five Saturdays in contrast to four during last year’s January. A Wednesday (weak selling day) in last year’s calendar was replace by a Saturday (strong Selling day) in this year’s.

     - Michigan, with 15% of Control States’ spirits and dollars volume, reported four weeks of sales this year versus five weeks of sales during January, 2013, artificially deflating sales and skewing Control States results. Michigan had seven fewer selling days this year than last.

         -   After normalizing nine-liter spirits case sales for selling day differences, January’s  volumetric growth is 3.3% and rolling-twelve month volumes are up 2.2%. Likewise, after normalizing shelf dollars, January’s control states shelf dollar growth rate is 6.6% while trending at 4.7% during the past twelve-months.

         -   January’s normalized Price/Mix is 3.3%.

During January, Irish Whiskey, with 1.0% share of the control states spirits market, was the fastest growing category with 12.2% reported and a twelve month trend of 11.9%. Vodka, with 35% share, grew during the same periods at 0.1% and 2.0%. Cocktails, Irish Whiskey, and Tequila grew at rates exceeding their twelve-month trends.

January’s nine-liter wine case sales growth rate was 2.0%. Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Utah, Mississippi, Montgomery County Maryland, and Wyoming reported 3.4%, 1.1%, 4.6%, -5.0%, -2.6%, and -0.1%, respectively. Rolling-twelve month wine volume growth was 1.8%, nearly flat with December’s reported 1.9%.