A new report by Roy Morgan has underlined Woolworths’ dominance in packaged-alcohol sales.
Of the $15.5 billion dollars’ worth of alcohol bought in Australia, nearly three-quarters of it (74.3 per cent) is bought from Australian supermarkets. Of that amount, more than half (50.1 per cent) is bought from Woolworths Group (Woolworths, Dan Murphy’s and BWS) in an average week.
This means Woolworths Group has increased its market share of the alcohol retail market by 1.5 per cent in the 12 months to March 2018. Within the Group, Dan Murphy’s had the biggest increase of market share, up 1.2 per cent in the 12 months to March 2018.
By contrast, Coles Group saw a small fall in share of market for alcohol retail. This decline is attributed to small gains in share for Liquorland and Vintage Cellars, and a drop of 1.2 per cent in share of market at First Choice.
The new research – the Roy Morgan Alcohol Currency Report – is based on in-depth personal interviews with 3650 Australians who have recently bought packaged alcohol. It covers the purchase of all alcoholic beverages for off-premise consumption by adult Australians, and includes purchases made in-store, over the phone, from a mail order or a wine club, duty free and online.
“Supermarkets have long been the market leader for the retailing of packaged alcohol, yet hotel bottle shops, independent retailers, wine clubs and duty-free stores still find their market,” Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine said.
“Woolworths Group now has over half of all dollars spent on packaged alcohol in an average seven-day period. This is largely due to the recent success of Dan Murphy’s, as well as the underperformance of Coles Group’s First Choice stores in the last 12 months.”
To find out more about the Roy Morgan Alcohol Currency Report, click here