Grocery promotions tick down (ACI)
As a result of the increased demand and shortage of inventory grocery stores have been less promotional during the pandemic as seen in the following chart. The amount of goods on promotion as well as the percentage discount have both been lower YOY. The lower amount of promotions has been a gross margin tailwind for the grocers and CPG companies. Since the end of the stockpiling phase the amount on promotion has slowly increased each week. In the week ended August 1 the amount on promotion decreased the most in over three months.
Bars see little improvement (BUD)
According to Nielsen 46% of adults have dined out in the past two weeks. The percentage has improved 5% over the last month. The percentage of consumers visiting bars is much lower than restaurants. In early June only 12% of consumers reported going out for a drink at a bar. Nearly three months later that percentage has only increased 2% to 14%. The 21-34 age group reported the highest rate of going out for drinks at 25%. Meanwhile, 16% of adults ages 35-54 had gone out for a drink, and just 5% of those age 55+ had done so. The lack of meaningful improvement in recent months for spending at local bars can be seen in the following chart from Womply (a CRM provider).
Draft sales slowly improving (SAM)
BeerBoard, which tracks $1 billion in draft sales nationwide, found that there has been a 9.5% increase in the number of taps pouring across the country. The volume of draft beer sold between August 14-16 increased 14% over sales between July 31 through August 2. Draft sales nationwide are down 37% from the same period last year. Craft beer has the majority of tap handles nationwide at 65.8% according to BeerBoard. Those handles accounted for 35.7% of the total draft volume sold. “This is by far the highest share total for craft we have seen during our on-premise status reports, up from a low of 49.7% over Memorial Day weekend,” BeerBoard wrote. Domestic beer made up 20.5% of handles and accounted for 54.2% of total draft volume. Imports occupy 13.7% of handles and account for 10.1% of total draft volume. The increase in draft sales may reflect improvement at restaurants and other on-premise venues besides bars.
