Rod Addy Coors Brewers has pledged to fight multiple grocers which devalue top beer brands with "crazy" cut-price Christmas promotions. The brewing giant said the practice, which last year saw 24-packs of top-selling beers such as Coors' newly acquired Carling brand fall below the £10 mark, was damaging the market. The message was delivered this week by Coors' new director of sales, retail, Eileen Zutshi. She said: "The challenge will be making sure the category isn't devalued by crazy price points. We'll be working hard on category arguments to resist that. "We want to build value into the category by getting consumers to trade up to larger pack sizes at holiday times." Zutshi said she would also be driving Coors' retail strategy forward in other ways. She said the brewer would be building on its music promotions, such as its sponsorship of the Homelands festival, to attract more female consumers. "Music is more exclusive than football for women." However, Zutshi emphasised the Coors' brands would continue with football sponsorship. She added that Coors also planned to drive up impulse sales. "We are starting to work with retailers to encourage them to sell chilled beer at point of sale. Many supermarkets have not worked out how to capitalise on that market and they lose out to off-licences and smaller retailers. "One problem is securing the space at front of store. This has traditionally been occupied by sandwich chiller units. These units could be used to sell sandwiches at lunchtime, then restocked with beer in the evenings." {{DRINKS }}

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