Description
“Promoting craft-style cues such as authenticity, heritage and high juice content may help cider to retain interest among drinkers looking for quality over quantity. Meanwhile, lower- and non-alcoholic variants have made strong inroads in the beer market and may provide more opportunities for cider brands in the coming years, particularly considering the health orientation of the ageing population.”
– Richard Caines, Senior Food & Drink Analyst
This report examines the following issues:
- Could hard seltzers steal share from flavoured cider?
- Thatchers Zero should build further momentum for low/no-alcohol cider
- Premium ciders continue to offer opportunities
Table of Contents
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Overview
- What you need to know
- Products covered in this Report
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Executive Summary
- The market
- Cider sales dive after the hot summer of 2018
- Figure 1: Total value sales of cider, 2014-24
- Duties remain frozen but the government introduces new tax band
- Hot summer of 2018 boosts cider sales
- Health considerations encouraging people to cut back
- Ageing UK population offers little support to cider
- Companies and brands
- Thatchers and Westons perform well in a struggling retail market
- Heineken retains a third of the retail market
- Figure 2: Leading brands’ shares in the UK retail cider market, 2018/19*
- Further activity in flavoured ciders
- Thatchers leads on advertising spend in 2019
- 2019 sees experiential and experimental campaigns
- The consumer
- Almost half of adults drink cider
- Figure 3: Usage of cider, by flavour, October 2018 and October 2019
- Cider is perceived as refreshing but not particularly a treat
- Figure 4: Perceptions of different types of alcoholic drinks, October 2019
- Taste and price dominate considerations
- Figure 5: Factors which people prioritise when choosing between different ciders, October 2019
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- Figure 6: Factors which would encourage people to pay more for cider, October 2019
- ‘Better for you’ ciders have scope for growth
- Figure 7: Behaviours relating to cider, October 2019
- Clear interest in low/non-alcoholic ciders but barriers remain
- Figure 8: Attitudes towards cider, October 2019
- What we think
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Issues and Insights
- Could hard seltzers steal share from flavoured cider?
- The facts
- The implications
- Thatchers Zero should build further momentum for low/no-alcohol cider
- The facts
- The implications
- Premium ciders continue to offer opportunities
- The facts
- The implications
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The Market – What You Need to Know
- Cider sales drop after the hot summer of 2018
- On-trade leads for value sales, but off-trade dominates volumes
- Duties remain frozen but the government introduces new tax band
- Hot summer of 2018 boosts cider sales
- Health considerations encouraging people to cut back
- Ageing UK population offers little support to cider
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Market Size and Forecast
- Cider sales fall after the hot summer of 2018
- Figure 9: Total value and volume sales of cider, 2014-24
- Cider’s average price is on the rise
- An ageing population and alcohol moderation are problematic for cider
- Limited growth forecast for cider
- Figure 10: Total value sales of cider, 2014-24
- Figure 11: Total volume sales of cider, 2014-24
- Forecast methodology
- Cider’s 2019 slump halts growth
- Figure 12: Five-year trend of value sales for the main alcoholic drink categories, 2015-19
- Cider sales fall after the hot summer of 2018
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Channels to Market
- Off-trade sales drag down the market
- Figure 13: Value and volume sales of cider in the off and on-trade, 2014-19
- Off-trade sales drag down the market
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Market Drivers
- Multiple factors affect cider prices
- Duty freeze provides some relief for cider producers
- Figure 14: Alcohol duties on different types of alcoholic drinks, 2010-19
- Change to duty dilution laws set to raise costs for flavoured cider producers
- Brexit continues to create uncertainty
- Weekly earnings continue to grow
- Figure 15: CPI vs average weekly earnings, Jan 2012-Dec 2019
- Hot summer of 2018 boosts cider sales
- Health considerations are encouraging people to cut back
- Ageing UK population offers little support to cider
- Cider’s unisex appeal should help the category
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Companies and Brands – What You Need to Know
- Thatchers and Westons perform well in a struggling retail market
- Heineken retains a third of the retail market
- Further activity in flavoured ciders
- Thatchers leads on advertising spend in 2019
- 2019 sees experiential and experimental campaigns
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Market Share
- Dark Fruit helps to prop up Strongbow sales
- Figure 16: Leading brands’ sales and share in the UK retail cider and perry market, 2016/17-2018/19
- Cause for concern for flavoured ciders?
- Traditional, heritage brands enjoy strong growth
- Heineken retains a third of the market
- Figure 17: Leading brand owners’ sales and share in the UK retail cider and perry market, 2016/17-2018/19
- Dark Fruit helps to prop up Strongbow sales
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Launch Activity and Innovation
- Can rosé ciders rise to the heights of dark fruits?
- Figure 18: Examples of rosé-flavoured/pink ciders, 2019
- More fruit-flavoured ciders hit the market
- Healthier ciders become more commonplace
- Figure 19: Kopparberg Balans hard seltzer, 2019
- Aspall and Westons rebrand and diversify
- Figure 20: Aspall’s cider innovation, 2019
- Can rosé ciders rise to the heights of dark fruits?
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Advertising and Marketing Activity
- Advertising spend falls again in 2019
- Figure 21: Above-the-line, online display and direct mail advertising expenditure on cider and perry, by media type, 2016-19
- Thatchers is the leading category advertiser
- Figure 22: Total above-the-line, online display and direct mail advertising expenditure on cider and perry, by leading advertisers, 2019
- Heineken continues to concentrate on Strongbow
- Strongbow tweaks its advertising strategy
- Old Mout continues with its campaign to save the kiwi bird
- Experiential and experimental campaigns become more popular
- Nielsen Ad Intel coverage
- Advertising spend falls again in 2019
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The Consumer – What You Need to Know
- Almost half of adults drink cider
- Cider is perceived as refreshing but not particularly a treat
- Taste and price dominate considerations
- Unique flavours and all-natural ingredients lead the way for trading up
- ‘Better for you’ ciders have scope for growth
- Clear interest in low/no-alcohol ciders but barriers remain
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Usage of Cider
- Almost half of adults drink cider
- Figure 23: Usage of cider, by flavour, October 2018 and October 2019
- Four in 10 users drink only one or two types of cider
- Figure 24: Number of different types of cider drunk in the last three months, October 2019
- Apple remains the core of the cider market
- A fifth drink cider made by beer brewers
- Figure 25: Usage of different types of cider, October 2018 and October 2019
- Usage of low/non-alcoholic cider showing promising signs
- Almost half of adults drink cider
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Perceptions of Different Types of Cider
- Cider is perceived as refreshing but not particularly a treat
- Figure 26: Perceptions of different types of alcoholic drinks, October 2019
- Standard and flavoured ciders are viewed differently
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- Figure 27: Perceptions of standard and flavoured cider, October 2019
- Cider is perceived as refreshing but not particularly a treat
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Purchasing Cider: Priorities and Trading Up
- Taste and price dominate considerations
- Figure 28: Factors which people prioritise when choosing between different ciders, October 2019
- Unique flavours and all-natural ingredients lead the way for trading up
- Figure 29: Factors which would encourage people to pay more for cider, October 2019
- Taste and price dominate considerations
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Behaviours Relating to Cider
- ‘Better for you’ ciders have scope for growth
- Figure 30: Health-related behaviours relating to cider, October 2019
- Potential for growing cider out of home
- Figure 31: Out-of-home-related behaviours relating to cider, October 2019
- Experimentation remains key to the cider market
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- Figure 32: Taste-related behaviours relating to cider, October 2019
- ‘Better for you’ ciders have scope for growth
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Attitudes towards Cider
- Clear interest in low/no-alcohol ciders but barriers remain
- Figure 33: Attitudes towards cider, October 2019
- Sugar is an important consideration for many drinkers
- Communicating quality and treat cues key for reduced sugar ciders
- Figure 34: Examples of newly launched no-lo ciders in Australia, 2019
- Clear interest in low/no-alcohol ciders but barriers remain
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Appendix – Data Sources, Abbreviations and Supporting Information
- Abbreviations
- Consumer research methodology
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Appendix – Market Size and Forecast
- Forecast methodology
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- Figure 35: Forecast of UK sales of cider, by value, best- and worst-case, 2019-24
- Figure 36: Forecast of UK sales of cider, by volume, best- and worst-case, 2019-24
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Appendix – Advertising and Marketing Activity
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- Figure 37: Total above-the-line, online display and direct mail advertising expenditure on cider and perry, by leading advertisers, by brand, 2019
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