“The second coming of the single serve…”

By Mark Newton, Client Relations, CGA Strategy Limited

In recent times single serve products – known to many consumers as shots and shooters - have seen a significant revival in interest and, as a category, is now one of the biggest growth areas in the on trade.

Overall the straight serve category – which includes products like Jagermeister and Sourz, along with sambuca and tequila – is in 2.2% volume growth, outperforming total traditional non-cream liqueurs and specialist spirits which are showing a -4.4% volume decline.

Interestingly it is not just the high street circuit bars and nightclubs which are driving strong growth. Food led pubs are also enjoying significant increases – this is particularly prevalent in those outlets which change their offer from day to night, moving towards a more high tempo occasion as the evening progresses.

Looking at segmentation in more detail, volume growth is primarily being driven by night clubs and café wine bars - clubs accounting for 36% growth, with bars contributing 18%. Night clubs also provide the best rates of sale and this is being further driven by a trend for operators to improve and increase their back bar portfolio.

By sector it is, perhaps unsurprisingly, the independent free trade that is delivering the greatest volume share (50%), closely followed by Managed at 42%. This shows a definite need to educate the Non-managed sector of the benefits of the category – although this only applies where the venue style is appropriate.

So what products are driving the category? There is no doubt that Jagermeister and Sambuca (primarily driven by Antica) are currently the big brands to watch. The appeal of both brands is most highly felt in circuit bars and wet led outlets, where cross demographic appeal and distinctive brand associations help maximise consumer interest.

In the more mainstream shots sub category, Sourz continues to increase distribution and is bucking the trend towards a natural decline created by competition from other products.

For the future tequila is likely to have the best potential for additional success. Although it has historically been intrinsically linked to straight serve, tequila is actually only distributed in 54% of Straight serve stockists. From a volume perspective the sub category is also underperforming, which creates an opportunity to restate its significance on the back bar through targeted marketing and distribution gains in key segments such as circuit bars.

The battle on the back bar is likely to continue for some time yet as the changing structure of the on trade market place offers further opportunities for straight serve products in outlets pitched more towards high tempo environments. It also looks likely that those products that can provide a mixture of cross gender appeal, heritage and low key marketing – avoiding mainstream perception - have the most chance of success in a revitalised category with continuing medium term potential.