While champagne can bubble all it wants, its sales in the UK are surely falling flat. This is caused by the cost-of-living crisis that the country is currently riddled with. British drinkers are therefore losing their taste for the spirit and buying it far less that they would otherwise.
As per studies, sales of the market leader Moet & Chandon are down 10.7 percent in value to $6.2 million, while those of Veuve Clicquot are down 16.7 percent to $43 million. Other brands have also reported lower sales, such as follows:
Bollinger sales went down 16.2 percent to £29 million, while Laurent-Perrier sales plunged by 7.3 percent to $31.7 million. Surprisingly, Taittinger grew value by $858305 due to a 10 percent rise in average prices, but its overall sales volumes were shot down 7.1 percent.
Data also showed that the average prices of most champagne brands have risen by 12 to 15 percent. And as they say, one’s loss is another’s gain! The sales of cheaper alternatives such as prosecco and cava have shot up amid the champagne crisis by almost 10.3 percent.
Commenting on it, Lucy Auld, marketing director at Freixenet Copestick, in a statement, said: ‘The great thing about prosecco and cava is they are at an accessible price point for the consumer.’ She further remarked:
‘While Brits have been up for a party, they have also been keen to save a few quid as inflation bites. That has driven trading down from champagnes such as Moet & Chandon and Veuve Clicquot to Freixenet’s prosecco and cava.’
Stating similarly, Robert Rand, the managing director of Lanson, said that the champagne sector had been forced to deal with small harvests in both 2020 and 2021, which drove up its prices. ‘This has added pressure to inventories. As a result of this scarcity, value has been added. We are seeing retail prices go up,’ he noted.
Well, here’s hoping for champagne’s recovery at the market soon!
[Via: Telegraph]
