SA premium beer drinkers shun SAB

Cape Town - Brandhouse, the liquor specialist which markets and distributes brands like Heineken, Amstel and Windhoek under licence, has increased its dominance at the top end of the beer market in SA.

This is according to statistics released on Wednesday by Brandhouse, based on ACNielsen National Off Trade raw data.

The statistics showed that Heineken, Amstel and Windhoek had all increased market share in the “premium beer sector” in the 12 months to end-March 2010. Conversely, SABMiller’s premium brands – Castle Lite, Hansa Marzan Gold, Peroni and Millers – all showed dips in market share.

The market share changes are significant, with Brandhouse and SABMiller upping the ante in their respective marketing campaigns in recent months.

Over the 12-month period, SABMiller’s share of the premium beer market had dribbled down from 46.1% at the end of March 2009 to 40.6% at the end of March 2010.

The market share gains by Amstel, Windhoek and Heineken brought Brandhouse’s collective share of the premium beer market to 58.2% in the 12 months to end-March 2010 – up about 6% on the 52.2% market share registered in the corresponding period last year.

In March this year Amstel, recording a market share of 29.4%, was the top-selling premium beer market brand, edging out Castle Lite (which registered a market share of 29.1%) for the month.

While Castle Lite remained the best-selling premium beer brand over the 12 months to end-March 2010 with a 30.1% market share (down 1.5% from last year), the biggest growth over the 12-month period was recorded by Amstel (which saw its market share extend by 3.4% to 29.2%).

The ACNielsen figures showed premium beer sales had increased by 8.3% in the 12 months to end-March, compared with a 3.6% decline in "mainstream" beer. Total beer sales for the 12-month period were down 1.3%.

SABMiller remained by far the dominant player in the total SA beer market, although its market share slipped slightly from 89.8% in the 12 months ending March 2009 to 87.7% in the 12 months to end-March 2010.

Market leader Carling Black Label saw its market share crimp 3.2% to 35.4% over the 12 months under review, but market share for Hansa Pilsner edged up 1.2% to 23.7%.

Castle Lager, SABMiller's flagship beer brand, made a marginal gain in market share to 15.9% of the total beer market in the 12 months to end-March 2010.

- Fin24.com