USA: Brewers bringing fewer new products to market amid coronavirus pandemic

Brewers are bringing fewer new products to market amid coronavirus concerns and a slowing economy, according to Sovos ShipCompliant label registration data for the months of April and May 2020, indicating these producers are doubling down on their existing product lines, wineindustryadvisor.com reported on June 15.

Overall, producers and wholesalers in the beer, wine and spirits business registered 16,164 products through Sovos ShipCompliant’s Product Registration Online (PRO) system, while many bars, retailers and tasting rooms remained closed due to stay-at-home orders. This represents a drop of 2% over February and March and a 0.3% decrease year-over-year.

However, brewers felt the decline most sharply with 43.4% fewer new product registrations in April and May compared to the same time last year.

“The closure of tasting rooms beginning in mid-March left many industry producers struggling to make ends meet. Breweries, in particular, appear to have rallied around their core products rather than investing in seasonal or limited releases, as a way to cut costs,” said Larry Cormier, vice president, general manager of Sovos ShipCompliant. “Craft beer innovation takes place in the taproom. With limited retail shelf space, many newer brewers focus on taproom sales rather than traditional distribution. So when tasting rooms closed, the newest and smallest brewers took the biggest hit.”

15 June, 2020