What you need to know
The alcoholic drinks market reached £48.9 billion in 2018, driven by a 4.4% rise in value and 2% in volume. Beer and wine continue to dominate, although the fastest volume growth has come from white spirits/RTDs and cider, albeit from a much smaller base.
This overall rise is despite the much-vaunted trend for people to limit their alcohol intake. Drinks makers are reacting to this change by continuing to invest in low/no-alcohol variants.
The impact of the moderation mindset looks to have been offset by one-off factors in 2018, the FIFA World Cup and summer heatwave having an upward effect, especially for categories such as lager. Inflation and the popularity of more premium drinks remain key drivers of value growth over and above volume, a trend that looks set to continue going forward.
Products covered in this Report
For the purposes of this Report, Mintel has used the following definitions:
This Report explores usage of and attitudes towards alcoholic drinks. This includes all types of alcohol, as well as low/non-alcoholic variants of drinks that typically contain alcohol (eg alcohol-free beer). The Report excludes soft drinks such as carbonated soft drinks and juices.
Both on- and off-trade sales are included in the total market size. The overall market size has been compiled as a total value of the five categories listed below. Please see the relevant Reports for additional information on the markets in question:
