1st BATCH OF FILES AVAILABLE NOW!

Convenience channel continues to play outsized role in growth of broader ready-to-drink bev alc category. RTDs - defined here as FMBs, hard seltzers, canned cocktails and canned/small size wine - are approaching $11 bil across all-outlet off-premise scans for 52 wks thru Sep 9, according to NielsenIQ deck sent today and presented at recent NACS event. Grew 7% to $10.7 bil and roughly 12 share of total bev alc $$. But c-stores make up nearly half (47%) of broader RTD sales, compared to roughly 1/3 of total off-premise beer $$ coming from convenience. RTDs also growing faster in c-stores than any other channel, +14.6%. RTDs at $5 Bil in C-Stores; FMBs Over Half RTDs hit $5 bil in 52-wk convenience scans, with FMBs over half that at $2.7 bil (+24%). Hard seltzers still $1.6 bil, bigger than craft's $1.5 bil for 52 wks in c-stores and declining far less steeply (-7.7%) than all outlet scans. Spirits RTDs (+79%) and wine RTDs (+25%) both at ~$0.4 bil in this dataset.Just 22% of C-Stores Can Legally Sell Spirits; UPCs Keep Climbing Big reason why ready-to-drink spirits still small in convenience: just 22% of c-stores can legally sell spirits, NielsenIQ noted, vs 68% able to sell wine and 100% for beer. Yet number of UPCs continues to climb in convenience, with RTD spirits highest of all. At 1,218 vs FMBs at 1,107, wine RTDs at 822 and hard seltzer at 626. Recall, RTD spirits added 500 new brands this yr, Bump Williams flagged, predicting that they're "going to hit a wall in 2025." But even as NIQ notes that product life cycles "will shorten," deck highlights other flavor oppys in convenience. Hard tea tacked on $834 mil and grew 38% for trailing 52 wks in c-stores. Hard lemonade hit $377 mil at +12.5%. Wine-based cocktails at $362 mil and grew 28%. And hard soda at $86 mil, +65%. Ranch water seltzer at $89 mil but declined 6%; hard kombucha at just $5 mil and grew 5%.Bev Alc Biggest Beverage Category in Convenience; Nearly 2x Next Largest Segment Across beverage categories, bev alc still easily tops the list among largest in convenience, nearly double the $$ sales of runner-up energy drinks, per NielsenIQ. Total beer/malt category sold $24.6 bil and grew 5.7% in c-stores for 52 wks thru Sep 9 vs energy drinks at $12.9 bil, up 11.5%. Soft drinks next closest at #3 ($9.9 bil, +8.5%), followed by drop-off to #4 sports drinks ($4.3 bil, +8.5%) and spirits #5 category in convenience ($3.4 bil, +10.5%). No other segment sold over $3 bil in the channel for trailing 52 wks. Wine #8 with $1.6 bil sales and growing 8.8%, behind water ($2.3 bil, +3.6%) and value add water ($2.2 bil, +13.4%), respectively.All Top Categories Growing $$ in Convenience, but Beer Losing Share; Crossover Brands at $225 Mil All top categories are growing $$ in convenience. And that's true in bev alc as well, with c-store dollars up 6.4% across beer, wine and spirits for 52 wks. Far better than flattish (+0.2%) in grocery, -1.5% in liquor and +1.4% in all other channels. But similar to all-outlet scan trends in 2022, other categories gained more $$ and grew faster, while beer lost share of total bev sales. Across convenience channel, packaged beverages accounted for $37 bil and grew 9.3% for 52 wks while beverage alcohol made up $30 bil at +6.4%, deck shows. Mainstream beverage brands crossing over into bev alc made up $225 mil, still relatively small but "growing" and "here to stay," NIQ wrote.

Nearly Half of 4th Category Sales Happen in C-Stores; Access Challenges for Spirits, per NielsenIQ

Publishing Info