Fruity
Intoxicants
Time-starved
consumers demand convenience. One of the answers to this predicament,
as the global liquor industry sees it, is ready-to-drink flavoured alcoholic
beverages
The
definition of a drink is becoming increasingly complicated as modern
consumers are faced with an even more diverse range of alcoholic beverages
to choose from. Many new product sectors have developed in recent years,
offering a multitude of interesting and unusual alternatives to standard
alcoholic beverages. The answer for many lies in Flavoured Alcoholic
Beverages (FAB) or alcopops. Here the opportunities for innovation and
market potential are huge. The aim is to pour new ideas into fashionable,
new bottles for maximum market impact. Zingy flavours, striking colours
and powerful packaging based on a fashionable lifestyle concept are
making a strong impact on their target consumer group – the young and
trendy. Breweries are increasingly scouting for alternative means of
preserving their market position. A growing amount of international
companies are investing in concepts that are directed at the emerging
FABs also called the Ready to Drink (RTD) segment.
Global
scenario
The
original trend, though, comes from the UK, where the market was valued
at £1 million in 2001 and, early this year, comprised more than 140
largely vodka-based products. The current trend is moving into tropical,
berry, and spicy and more functional flavours. FABs are now a well-established,
fervently promoted sector in the UK and characterised by their many
varieties, novelty value and occasionally, limited editions. Independent
market analyst Datamonitor’s new report, ‘The European Beer, Cider and
FABs Market to 2007’, reveals that in 2002, the European market for
FABs (also known as RTDs and alcopops) reached a value of $4.9 billion,
up from $1.8 billion in 1997, exhibiting a stunning compound annual
growth rate of over 21 per cent.
While
there has always been demand for sweet alcoholic drinks, the biggest
change over the last five years has been that through innovative marketing
these beer alternatives have become trendy.
According
to Datamonitor, the UK is the largest FAB market in Europe, worth $2.9
billion in 2002. The next largest market is Germany, where flavoured
beer-based drinks have been one of the few areas of growth in a stagnant
beer, cider and FABs industry. The market has seen two waves of growth
over the last 5 years: the first fuelled by the craze for alcoholic
soft drinks such as Hooper’s Hooch and Two Dogs; the second driven by
the trend towards premium premixed spirits.
Diageo’s
Smirnoff Ice is a key success story here – since its launch in 1999,
it has grown to take almost a third of the UK FABs market and an even
higher share in the US. Thanks to Smirnoff Ice and Bacardi Breezer,
its closest rival, spirits-based FABs dominate the European market in
value terms, reaching $4.3 billion in 2002 and representing 88.5 per
cent of the market as a whole. The RTD industry’s great success over
the last few years has been to create sweet drinks which are seen as
premium products and which may even appeal to experienced drinkers.
Although penetration in mainland Europe has been significant, the dominance
of the UK in this sector is predicted to remain unrivalled over the
next five years.
High
levels of growth have also characterised the FAB markets of many northern
European countries over the last five years. Subsequently the German
and Irish markets rank among the largest in Europe behind that of the
UK. As in the beer market, the biggest spenders on FABs in Europe are
the Irish, who spent $64 per head on FABs in 2002. Not far behind are
consumers in the UK, who spend $49 per head on FABs. Belgium, Finland,
Greece and the Netherlands are the other European countries where FABs
spending is above $10 per head.
The
US too will not remain unaffected, reinforcing this prediction, Miller
Brewing, released SKYY Blue and Anheuser-Busch released Bayard Silver.
Both are gaining popularity very quickly.
The
Indian context
Indian
shores have not been left untouched by this frenzy. Shaw Wallace has
launched Vega, a carbonated vodka based drink which will be available
in three fruity flavours – orange, grapefruit citrus and lemon. Refusing
to be ignored, almost a year after the slightly sedate Shotz was launched;
McDowell is all set to launch enticing variants, which will include
blends where tamarind is mixed with white rum and lemonade with vodka.
Smirnoff Ice from the Guinness UDV stable is yet another entrant in
this fresh, pulsating segment. Among the local players, on the forefront
is Balrampur Chini Mills, which very recently rolled out an FAB called
‘Xotica’ in Uttar Pradesh. ......
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