Pernod Ricard UK said it is expanding its support to convenience channel ahead of Christmas, anticipating the lockdown trends for wine and spirits to continue.
The leading producer and supplier of premium drinks has announced its partnership with a new external field sales agency, McCurrach, to reach more stores ahead of the festive period.
“Lockdown has altered consumer shopping habits and one of the biggest changes within wine and spirits has been the shift in consumer spend to the convenience off-trade,” said Chris Shead, off-trade channel director at Pernod Ricard UK.
“The trend to shop locally continues to drive impulse and this provides a real opportunity to the channel in the run up to Christmas, to become a destination for key festive categories such as Whiskey and Wine.”
As part of its effort to help convenience channel adapt to ‘new normal’, the company will be focusing on cocktails at home, tapping into a major trend accelerated by the lockdown.
While 43 per cent of Brits claimed to have attempted making ‘the perfect cocktail’ during lockdown, the favourite confinement cocktails has been different from the on-trade preferences.
Pernod Ricard said Malibu benefited greatly from the rise of Piña Colada to the number two spot in Google Trends, with sales growing 79 per cent by volume and 86 per cent by value in the off-trade.
Espresso Martinis have also been a top 10 favourite, with more shoppers adding Absolut, Kahlúa and Filter Coffee to their baskets during the 12 weeks of lockdown.
With 46 per cent of 19-34-year-olds saying they would make cocktails at home this Christmas in a survey commissioned by Pernod Ricard UK, the trend is set to continue, and the company estimates that more than one fifth of shoppers will be making cocktails at home during the festive period.
Pernod Ricard will also be concentrating on the ‘winning categories’ for Christmas, eyeing the gifting and hosting occasions. Hosting accounted for 56 per cent of all spirits occasions in December and 48 per cent of people bought alcohol as a gift in 2019.
The company said Gin, Vodka, Irish Whiskey and Wine, which have seen exponential growth during the lockdown period, are the four key categories it will be promoting for both hosting and gifting at Christmas.
Shead added that retailers can expect early Christmas shopping.
“With social distancing measures likely to still be in place, we’re predicting the Christmas purchasing period will happen earlier, with shoppers planning ahead of time to minimise time spent in store.”
In addition to the appointment of McCurrach as its new field sales partner in convenience to create a brand-new permanent team, the company will be full category partner for McCurrach’s MyStore+ app, providing category advice and offers to retailers via the app.
“We’re delighted to be working with McCurrach to ensure we are supporting retailers to act fast to retain these new shoppers and that the right products are available based on emerging consumer trends,” Shead said.
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