E-Malt.com News article: USA: Miller Brewing maintains USA market share

SABMiller Plc's subsidiary, Miller Brewing, announced on July 20 it was able to maintain its share of the United States beer market over the American beer industry’s important 4th of July sales period despite raising prices by 1.2 % compared to last year, according to Reuters.

Miller's performance over the 4th of July, traditionally the busiest selling period for beer in the United States, stands in contrast to Memorial Day, when brewers kicked off the summer with sharp discounts to spur beer sales. Rival Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. continued this discounting during the most recent holiday.

"Price discounting is not an effective growth lever for the industry, unless you want to rent volume in the economy segment," Miller Brewing Chief Marketing Officer Tom Long said in a statement. Volume and share movement did not correlate with discounting. Miller Brewing Co.’s share of total beer sales remained flat versus the prior year, while increasing prices by 1.2%1.

In contrast, Anheuser-Busch lost 0.5 share points despite lowering prices versus the prior year by 0.5%1. An Anheuser spokesman declined to comment on its growth over the key holiday.Brands with established momentum continued to show strength. Miller Lite’s share grew 0.6 share points, while the import category grew by 0.9 share points1.

Anheuser-Busch executed particularly strong discounting for its economy brands in supermarkets. Over the July 4 sales period, A-B cut the average price per case for Busch 4.4% and Natural Light by 5.6%2. As a result, A-B’s two economy brands each picked up 0.2 share points, while A-B’s premium-priced Michelob franchise declined 0.9 points2.

St. Louis, Missouri,-based Anheuser-Busch, scheduled to release second-quarter results on July 27, said at the start of the summer that price cuts on some of its brands were designed to bring them in line with rivals' products.

The sales data also reflected that Miller had moderate success in executing its stated strategy of not ceding share based on A-B-led pricing initiatives. After the Memorial Day sales period, Miller said that A-B had out-executed it in securing discount programs with retailers, under-estimating both the depth and breadth of A-B’s cuts. Miller vowed that it would protect Miller Lite’s share by closing that pricing-execution gap as the summer progressed. For the 4th of July period, Miller competed more effectively in discounting activity, but was unable to close the gap with promotional activities such as features and displays.

“We made progress, but we’re chasing a moving target,” said Doug Brodman, Miller’s senior vice president for sales. “Fortunately, the growing brand strength of Miller Lite is more than making up for the relative price swings.”

Overall, beer volume grew 1.8 percent in the United States during the two weeks ended July 9, with most of the gains coming from imports and smaller breweries, Miller said.

In the key light beer segment, Miller's Miller Lite gained 0.6 share points while Anheuser-Busch's Bud Light fell 0.1 points. The light beer segment has proved crucial for U.S. brewers in recent years as many health-conscious consumers have curtailed purchases of full calorie beers.

Miller holds about a 19 percent share of beer sold in U.S. grocery and convenience stores while Anheuser-Busch controls about half of the U.S. market.


23 July, 2005