customer shopper beer aisle

England’s short-lived appearance in UEFA’s Euro 2016 football tournament boosted featured space promotions on booze last month, the latest data shows.

Alcohol saw the biggest growth in promotions of any category - up 1.09% to account for 22.26% of offers. Within alcohol, wine accounted for 46% of deals, spirits 21.4%, beer 21.4%, and cider and sparkling wine/Champagne around 5% each.

Hardys was the only booze brand to make it into the top 10 most heavily promoted brands, however, with the wine brand’s featured space promotions up 28% month on month. Most of this growth was in the back aisles (+11.6%), though there were also more Hardys promotions in the foyers (+4%) and till aisles (+0.4%).

England’s early exit from the footy is set to have a “direct impact” on upcoming promotional schedules, as has been seen with World Cups and Euros in the past, says Assosia director Kay Staniland. The poor weather could also hit alcohol promotions, she adds. “When football and the weather don’t play ball, promotions are quickly switched to less celebratory products and categories.”

However, if the weather improves, promotional activity for alcohol may pick up, as could deals on BBQ goods.

Meanwhile, impulse and confectionery brands continue to dominate the top 10, which saw further reductions in average % savings offered to consumers.

“Of the top 10 brands, only Cadbury and Nestlé are showing a continued percentage savings to consumers based on the offers available in the last four weeks vs the same period last year,” says Staniland.

The average % saving for save deals among the top 10 was 33.3%, with the average across total offers dropping to 29.1%.

Average % savings are down for both own label and brands - with own label now below 25% and brands hovering at 30.4%.

“This is one of the lowest average savings seen in recent years, and a clear indication that suppliers (in conjunction with retailers) are having to keep promoting, but reduce the bottom line offers.”