E-Malt.com News article: UK: Grolsch lager to reposition next year and enter the burgeoning sector of world beer

Grolsch lager is in line for a repositioning exercise in 2012 to take it away from the mainstream premium lager category and into the world beers sector, Off Licence News reported on November, 11.

The brand has seen take-home sales slide by a third in the year to October 1, according to figures in the newspaper’s Beer Report 2011.

A shift in emphasis for the Dutch brand will take it into a burgeoning sector of the market where brands such as Peroni and San Miguel are seeing double-digit growth.

Grolsch is owned by SABMiller – which also owns Peroni, now the ninth-biggest lager brand in take-home – and distributed in the UK by Molson Coors, which has had sales success in world beer with Cobra, where sales increased by 20% in the past year.

Molson Coors sales director John Heynen said: “In October 2011, we launched a full brand redesign for Cobra, emphasising its premium positioning and world beer category credentials.”

He added that 2012 would see “significant changes for Grolsch’s positioning and profile”. Heynen said: “This year has been very quiet for Grolsch as we are in the process of repositioning it in the fast-growing premium world beer category.”

“This will involve a short-term volume decrease but it is essential for the long-term health of the brand and increase its value.”

The Beer Report shows the performance of leading world beer brands was a bright spot in a tough year for lager and the beer market in general. Both total take-home beer and lager volumes declined by 4%, with value sales up 2%.


16 November, 2011