Supermarkets are continuing to tighten their grip on the alcohol retail sector, according to the latest data from Roy Morgan.
The trend continued apace over the year to September. Roy Morgan’s data showed that Woolworths Group-owned outlets picked up 250,000 customers, while hotel bottle shops lost almost the same number (240,000).
Woolies and Coles still dominate – but Woolies setting the pace
Woolworths Group and Coles Group continue to dominate the market-share league table, with 5.83 million and 2.41 million customers, respectively. That gives Woolworths Group market penetration of 61.8 per cent and market share in dollar terms of 52.1 per cent. By comparison, Coles Group has market penetration of 25.5 per cent and market share of 15.4 per cent.
Woolworths Group brands Dan Murphy’s and BWS both increased their customer bases over the 12 months to September – by four per cent and 9.3 per cent, respectively.
By contrast, Coles Group’s brands had more mixed results. Liquorland customer numbers declined by 13.1 per cent over the year, with 1st Choice Liquor numbers almost unchanged. However, Vintage Cellars grew its customer base by 18.5 per cent.
‘Harming the trade of bottle shops’
Of the continuing dominance of supermarkets in alcohol retail, Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine said: “This is certainly harming the trade of hotel bottle shops, which have continued to lose customers. That has to hurt in a retail environment in which total spend on packaged alcohol has been falling throughout 2018.
“Our research shows a number of drivers of buying behaviour in this market. These include proximity to other shops, low prices, an easily browseable range, and good special offers.”
Roy Morgan says it based its Alcohol Retail Currency Report on data it collected via in-depth, personal interviews. It conducted these face-to-face with more than 50,000 Australians per year in their own homes. They included more than 7,000 people who had bought packaged alcohol within four weeks of being interviewed.