E-Malt.com News article: Japan: Brewers hoping to profit by Soccer World Cup

With the FIFA World Cup starting on June 11, Japanese brewers are hoping the national team can defy the odds and progress to the later stages of the tournament so that beer-drinking fans will give their sales a much-needed boost, The Wall Street Journal communicated on June, 10.

A good showing at the World Cup by the nation's team nicknamed 'Samurai Blue' could lift sales of team sponsor Kirin’s brews. Kirin has perhaps the best chance of seeing a World Cup-bounce to its bottom line. As a long-running sponsor of the national team, the brewer’s suds are the tipple of choice for many soccer fans in Japan, and the company is selling a special World Cup-themed beer at 25,000 supermarkets and liquor stores nationwide.

Kirin didn’t provide a specific sales target for June, but said that during the 2006 World Cup in Germany, “point of sale” sales volume — which includes outlets such as supermarkets and convenience stores — saw a 4% rise from the previous year. Although that’s not an overall figure, it’s still not bad for a tournament in which Japan failed to make it beyond the first round.

The same result again, or better, would be welcome relief for Japan’s beer industry, which faces an uphill battle for long-term sales growth due to a stagnant economy and an ageing population. The scale of that challenge was captured by data released today by the five major breweries, which showed an 8.4% on-year drop in sales of cases of beer in May to a record low for the month.

But hopes for a World-Cup sales spike may yet be dashed by a general lack of enthusiasm for a competition in which an ill-prepared Japanese team is expected to struggle against tough first round opponents. That pessimism has already been reflected in weak domestic sales of flat-screen television sets and travel packages to South Africa.

And beer companies should remember another sporting event before getting their hopes up - the inaugral World Baseball Classic in March 2006, which Japan eventually won. The tournament was sponsored by Asahi Breweries, but despite a big promotional push from the company its sales in the month dropped 5%.


11 June, 2010