Beer brands have to convince hesitating consumers

In 2009, the beer industry realised the lowest volume sales in the past 20 years. Mostly bars and restaurants can be blamed for the minus 8 percent, the downturn was smaller in retail. The beer market was also hit by the increase in VAT and excise duty. Mónika Agócs, corporate affairs manager with Dreher Breweries told Trade magazin that medium-category and premium beers were in a difficult position.

During the crisis consumer started looking for cheap beers and several new brands appeared to satisfy this demand. Data by Nielsen indicates that canned beer sales continued to strengthen, while bottled beer and draught beer showed negative trends. Dr Ildikó Stefánkovits, legal and corporate affairs director with Borsodi brewery is of the opinion that Hungarian consumers and retailers prefer one-way packaging and shy away from the logistics returnable packaging requires. Additionally, some shoppers still think of canned beer as some kind of premium product.

Éva Kiss, corporate and external affairs director with Heineken Hungária Zrt. informed us that the company plays a pioneering role in promoting the recycling of one-way packaging; they also try to give special emphasis to draught beer consumption. Nielsen’s data also reveals that small shops lost ground to modern store types.
Éva Kiss admitted that this was a negative trend for them, as these shops’ beer sales were way above the average of their general retail role. Heineken tries to support sales in this retail channel as much as possible – the key is original innovation.

Last year Borsodi Brewery changed hands, but new owner Starbev did not change
the company’s distribution policy. Borsodi is still the number one beer in Hungary in terms of volume sales.

Last year different beer brands tried to look for new ways by launching special products and by emphasising their community building character. András Ambriskó, sales director with Carlsberg Hungary Kft. told that partygoers have been a popular target group for alcoholic beverages for years. They will come out with a new product,
Tuborg Lemon – which has a 4.9-percent alcohol content – before the start of the season in May.

Dreher Breweries introduced the semi-dark version of Arany Ászok beer at the end of 2009. Dreher 24 is a non-alcoholic beer that is made using special yeast and special marketing support resulted in 50 percent higher volume
sales in 2009. Mónika Agócs spoke about the website www.annyiavilag.hu that the company launched, their 360-degree communication strategy and Arany Ászok amateur Football Club.

Heineken came out with Gösser NaturZitrone and Soproni Szőke Ciklon and both brands surpassed expectation by far. This March their Gösser Alkoholfreies Naturbier will debut.

Borsodi sponsored Borsodi Music Festivals, the biggest series of musical events last year. At these festivals they set up their Malt Bar that presented excellent beer and musical events. The have been supporting Hungarian football for years. Beck’s is their dynamically growing brand that focuses on the individual. Stella Artois is still the synonym of the perfectly drawn beer. Borsodi Brewery is dedicated to responsible beer consumption and regularly organises beer drawing trainings and competitions.