strongbow

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Strongbow

Sales: £273.1m Growth: -1.4%

Without Strongbow Dark Fruit it could have been a very different story for Britain’s biggest cider brand this year.

With bottled rivals suffering big losses, the brand has escaped a similar performance and retained shelf space in the mainstream cider category thanks to the continued success of its Dark Fruit variant. That’s up £13.5m to £67.3m, a rise of 25%, while Strongbow Original, Pear and Citrus Edge reflect the ongoing decline in apple and pear ciders with sales down 6%, 54% and 64% respectively.

Despite the losses of its sub-brands, Strongbow remains almost three times as big as its closest rival, Kopparberg (20), and as the official cider of Team GB for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games - a first for the brand - Strongbow will be front of mind for shoppers this summer.