A year of growth
VODKA and gin form the core of the white spirits market in Scotland and both had a good year in 2014 even if some brands and styles did noticeably less well than others.
Total vodka sales were up 6% to just under £192m and total gin sales grew 6% to be pushing £46m.
Vodka is clearly the bigger of the two but trends in the categories are similar in some ways.
Vodka sales continued to be dominated by Smirnoff and Glen’s which between them took around 72% of total sales value.
But while both showed sales growth in the year it has to be noted that some smaller brands in the Scottish market showed very considerable sales increases.
Those included premium and imported products such as Russian Standard, Green Mark and Grey Goose but also the much more mainstream Vladivar Classic, which racked up impressive sales growth of 32% and is now pushing towards £3m worth of sales in Scottish off-trade.
The growth of special vodkas hasn’t been lost on the big brands of course. Smirnoff Gold Cinnamon added 34% over the year and the new owner of Glen’s, Loch Lomond Group, is launching Glen’s Platinum this year.
In gin there’s one massively dominant brand (Gordon’s) rather than two. But like the two giant vodkas it’s a cast-iron must-stock, in all types of outlet.
But, while it and the well established number-two brand Bombay Sapphire showed decent growth, there were much bigger hikes in sales among the smaller brands.
And, once again, just like in vodka there was growth from gins at different price points. The resurgent Greenall’s saw sales increase by 46%.
And Scottish gin did well. Caorunn was up 73%. Hendrick’s jumped 18% and Edinburgh Gin Raspberry Liqueur soared by 172%
Scotland’s top off-trade vodkas by sales value :
|
Rank |
Brand |
MAT £000s to w/e 04.01.14 |
MAT £000s to /we 03.01.15 |
% Change |
|
|
Total vodka (inc flavoured) |
183,393 |
191,742 |
5 |
|
1 |
Smirnoff Red Label |
66,566 |
70,535 |
6 |
|
2 |
Glen's |
64,642 |
66,825 |
3 |
|
3 |
Russian Standard |
9,458 |
12,503 |
32 |
|
4 |
Absolut Vodka Original |
2,588 |
2,991 |
16 |
|
5 |
Vladivar Classic |
2,149 |
2,843 |
32 |
|
6 |
Green Mark Russian Vodka |
1,660 |
2,190 |
32 |
|
7 |
Grey Goose |
1,320 |
1,852 |
40 |
|
8 |
Selekt |
1,437 |
1,396 |
-3 |
|
9 |
Red Square |
1,568 |
954 |
-39 |
|
10 |
Smirnoff Gold Cinnamon |
585 |
785 |
34 |
|
11 |
Absolut Raspberri |
596 |
758 |
27 |
|
12 |
Finlandia |
516 |
550 |
7 |
|
13 |
Smirnoff Lime |
624 |
533 |
-15 |
|
14 |
Smirnoff Green Apple |
432 |
438 |
1 |
|
15 |
Zubrowka Bison Vodka |
326 |
413 |
27 |
Scotland’s top off-trade gins by sales value :
|
Rank |
Brand |
MAT £000s to w/e 04.01.14 |
MAT £000s to /we 03.01.15 |
% Change |
|
|
Total Gin |
43,031 |
45,513 |
6 |
|
1 |
Gordon’s |
21,119 |
22,553 |
7 |
|
2 |
Bombay Sapphire |
3,674 |
4,014 |
9 |
|
3 |
Greenall’s Original |
1,418 |
2,072 |
46 |
|
4 |
Tanqueray |
1,376 |
1,797 |
31 |
|
5 |
Hendrick's |
919 |
1,087 |
18 |
|
6 |
Caorunn |
299 |
516 |
73 |
|
7 |
Gordon’s Crisp Cucumber |
506 |
357 |
-29 |
|
8 |
Beefeater Gin |
322 |
316 |
-2 |
|
9 |
Blackwood’s Vintage Dry Gin |
233 |
244 |
5 |
|
10 |
Gordon’s Elderflower |
|
227 |
|
|
11 |
Bombay Dry Gin |
|
225 |
|
|
12 |
Richmond London Dry Gin |
603 |
171 |
-72 |
|
13 |
Grosvenor London |
147 |
163 |
11 |
|
14 |
Plymouth |
160 |
150 |
-6 |
|
15 |
Edinburgh Raspberry Gin |
51 |
138 |
172 |
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The figures in Scottish Grocer’s exclusive Scottish off-trade’s most valuable brands guide are provided by leading market research company Nielsen. Figures are Nielsen ScanTrack for total Scottish off-trade and are moving annual totals (MATs) for the year to 3 January 2015 and are compared to the MATs for the previous year – to 4 January 2014.
