August 2013 Control State results: sales up 1.1%

September 23, 2013

During August, nine-liter spirits case sales in the control states were up 1.1% compared to sales during the same period last year. Rolling-twelve month volumes grew at 1.1%, down from July’s 1.8%. Alabama, Montgomery County Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Vermont reported monthly growth rates exceeding their twelve month trends.

Control state spirits shelf dollars were up 4.2% during August while trending at 4.0% during the past twelve months. Alabama, Montgomery County Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Vermont reported growth rates that exceeded their twelve month trends.
Price/Mix for August was 3.1%, flat with July’s reported 3.2%.
In addition to normal growth, August’s Control State spirits sales were affected by the following:
-Utah, with 2% of the Control States’ spirits and dollars volumes, reported four weeks of sales this August against five weeks last year, artificially deflating sales and skewing Control States results. Utah had six fewer selling days–20% fewer-during this year’s August compared to last year’s. After normalizing nine-liter spirits case sales for Utah’s reporting anomaly, August’s Control State nine-liter case growth rate is 1.6%, and rolling-twelve month volumes show an increase of 1.2%. Likewise, after normalizing shelf dollars, August’s control states shelf dollar growth rate is 4.8%, and its twelve-month trend is 4.1%.
-August’s normalized Price/Mix is 3.2%.
During August, Irish Whiskey, with 0.9% share of the control states spirits market, was the fastest growing category with 12.4% growth reported and a twelve month growth trend of 14.5%. Vodka, with 33% share, grew during the same periods at 0.7% and 1.4%. During August Brandy/Cognac, Cordials, Domestic Whiskey, Gin, Rum, and Tequila grew at rates that exceeded their twelve-month trends.
August’s nine-liter wine case sales growth rate was flat. Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Utah, Mississippi, Montgomery County Maryland, and Wyoming reported 2.2%, 0.1%, -17.0%, -1.6%, 0.5%, and 4.4%, respectively. August’s rolling-twelve month wine volume growth, 1.2%, is down from July’s 1.6%.