Three in ten Scottish shoppers are in favour of raising the minimum price per unit of alcohol (MUP) from the current 50p to 'somewhere around the £1 mark', a new study from Nielsen has found.
This contrasts to around one in ten who believe that the MUP should be higher prior to the introduction of minimum unit price legislation in May 2018, with millennials more supportive of an increase than those in the 55+ age group.
Nielsen found that the vast majority (94%) of Scottish shoppers are aware of minimum unit pricing, however, just under a fifth (19%) are aware that it applies to all alcoholic drinks.
"The impact of the 50p tax affected categories within the off-trade, and the brands within them, very differently," commented Gemma Cooper, Nielsen client business partner. "For example, we saw limited pricing impact to the overall wine category, whereas the lager, cider and spirits categories saw the most disruption in price."
Back in late 2017, ahead of the introduction of minimum unit pricing, Spirits Europe, a representative group for the European alcoholic spirits sector, said that the measure was ‘a sad day for the internal market’.
Private-Label Impact
Nielsen found that private-label alcoholic drinks saw a negative impact from the MUP legislation, as their price point became much more in line with their branded counterparts than it had been before MUP.
"So, for those 6% of Scottish shoppers who say they were not aware of the new legislation, it may be simply down to the fact that the products they bought before and now, post-MUP, simply weren’t affected very much," Cooper added.
Nielsen also asked shoppers how they have been managing their spend on alcohol since the introduction of MUP, with responses ranging from 'saving in other areas of household shopping' to 'buying from off-trade stores outside of Scotland', to drinking more in the on-trade, given the lessening price gap.
Flat Volumes
"The effect on the off-trade category is that value is up [+8%] – no surprise, as overall prices have risen – but volume is almost flat, as Scottish shoppers bought less in the off-trade," Cooper said.
"However, Scottish shoppers are becoming increasingly savvy when it comes to buying alcohol, shifting their spend to more premium products or, indeed, mixing up their current repertoire. Around one in five shoppers claim to have bought more premium brands, as they believed them to be more affordable when compared to cheaper brands."
Nielsen's report was originally published in Drinks Retailing News.
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
