21 Feb 2014 Men breaking out of a lager mentality

“Men feel much more confident ordering sweeter or fruitier products,” Tom Verhaegen, MD of SABMiller Netherlands, said at a quarterly investor relations seminar recently.

The expanded range of drinks choices, intended to be enjoyed alongside food or as an alternative to wine and spirits, is also driven by the growing number of “mixed-gender drinking occasions”, where women have a stronger influence on the group drink of choice.

Verhaegen said alternative drinks choices also tapped into the rising demographic of consumers who like to be considered knowledgeable. “There is a group of consumers with an increasing need to be recognised as experts or connoisseurs in food and drink categories and who like to celebrate special occasions with more premium brands,” he said.

The brewer has created a range of Radlers (beer-based mixed drink or shandy) which are drunk in Eastern Europe, and a pilsner called Kornuit in the Netherlands to be drunk alongside food, while a range of less bitter, more unusual Ksiazece beers in Poland are intended to compete with wine and spirits.

SABMiller said it was focusing on “romancing” its core lager products and improving its premium range to tap into other demographic shifts such as the older generation.

“There’s an ageing population which is squeezing our key target group of 25-to-45-year-old beer drinkers. These older consumers are becoming not only more numerous, but also more affluent. At the other end of the spectrum we have the millennials who are experimenting more and more not only beyond lager, but beyond the beer category, while beer remains their favoured choice,” said Verhaegen.

One of the drinks which taps into more sophisticated tastes is Peroni Nastro Azurro, the second-largest premium lager brand in the UK. It’s 140% more expensive than any other premium lager.

“Over the past several years, this brand has broken all the beer category norms in the UK. It has done that by marketing itself as an Italian-style icon like Armani or Prada, rather than as a beer,” he said.

SABMiller said beer and soft drinks sales in Europe should rise at a low single-digit rate over the next three to five years as it expands its premium-priced drinks range.

Source: The Daily Telegraph