Coronavirus impact on sales

Beverages first.

Zenith Global’s US partner Beverage Digest reports substantial retail sales growth for many beverage categories in recent weeks.

Source: Nielsen

You can see elements of:

• an acceleration in stocking up

• a particular uplift for reserves such as powdered milk

• an upsurge for vitamin C in orange juice.

Apparently, the slight tail-off for water was mainly related to out-of-stocks.

In contrast, on-premise and fountain sales have inevitably slumped. The packaging mix has also changed, with less demand for on-the-go single-serve bottles, which generally have a price premium.

The latest indications are that retail sales are beginning to settle back after what one bottler described as ‘higher March 2020 volumes than peak summer sales in July 2019’.