Press Release Summary = Key Note estimates that the UK drinks market was worth £52.62bn at retail selling prices (rsp) in 2005. This figure is equivalent to around 7% of total consumer expenditure during the year.
Press Release Body = Drinks Market Market Review 2006
Key Note estimates that the UK drinks market was worth £52.62bn at retail selling prices (rsp) in 2005. This figure is equivalent to around 7% of total consumer expenditure during the year.
Alcoholic drinks accounted for an estimated 78% of the market in 2005, with soft drinks taking 17.6% and hot drinks the remaining 4.4%. Beer is the leading alcoholic drink, worth nearly half the total expenditure on alcohol, but wine is the fastest-growing major category of the alcohol market. The diverse range of other alcoholic drinks includes dark and white spirits, cider, fortified wines, and ready-to-drink (RTD) spirits, such as Smirnoff Ice.
Fashion influences demand for drinks among young people. Sales of RTD spirits are currently waning, with cider once again growing in popularity, but vodka is increasingly the alcoholic drink of choice for young consumers.
Most drinks sectors feature one or two dominant brands, such as Smirnoff, Strongbow, Coca-Cola and Nescafé. These brands are usually backed by huge multinational companies operating in globalised drinks markets. The UK\'s largest indigenous companies, such as Diageo (spirits) and Scottish & Newcastle (beer and cider), have themselves become multinationals.
Retailing of alcohol remains dominated by pubs, which are experiencing a traumatic period in the early 2000s, with new licensing laws, action against public drunkenness and, in the near future, a ban on smoking that will drive away some drinkers. Therefore, Key Note forecasts very slow growth for the drinks market as a whole between 2006 and 2010. The problems for the licensed trade are likely to combine with health concerns, price wars between supermarkets and a period of lower consumer confidence.
Despite these negative factors, the drinks market\'s diversity remains its strength. Research conducted by Key Note for this report found that ten separate types of drink were considered `favourites\' by at least a quarter of adults: white wine, red wine, lager, bitter or ale, vodka and whisky among the alcoholic drinks, together with fruit juice, mineral water and both fizzy and still soft drinks
2025
