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How big in dollars and product are Guinness Sales of beer in New York City and what is the breakdown by bottle,, tap or can?
Hello, and thank you for your request to provide the sales of Guinness beer products in New York City by breakdown of dollars, and bottles, cans or tap (draught). In short, after an exhaustive search, I was unable to find exact number of sales of Guinness products by bottles, cans or tap in New York City by units or dollar figures, by publicly available sources. I am able to provide an estimated brand market share for New York City, dollar sale estimates for the brand nationally (including supermarket case sales in 2016), and industry information that projects growth of Guinness into 2017 and by consumer preference. The most useful resources for your request were a Brewers Association 2016 market report, a Diageo Annual report, Industry Trade articles, and several consumer websites for beer enthusiasts. My deep dive is below.
BACKGROUND
-- Guinness AND Diageo (NYSE: DEO)
Guinness is a private company, based in London, a subsidiary of Diageo, a publicly traded corporation, also based out of London. Because Guinness is private, the company does not have a regulatory requirement to release information to shareholders, like the parent company, a publicly traded company, does. Guinness has estimated global annual revenues of $245.3M, Diageo has global reported revenues of $17.5B.
Guinness brand is a "top Six" global seller for Diageo, and is marketed globally as a "premium" beer brand. Diageo also holds Kilkenney, Harp, and Smithwick brands in it's beer portfolio. Other brands held by the company include spirits such as whiskeys, vodkas, and liqueurs. Globally, the beer portfolio was 18% of Diageo's 2016 total corporate revenue. The United States is the fifth largest consumer of Guinness.
I researched the 2016 Diageo Annual Report, and found Diageo- Guinness USA (DGUSA) is the North American Beer Market for the parent company. In the United States, sales of Guinness did not change from 2015 to 2016. The annual company report summary for DGUSA can be found on page 29,
"DGUSA- Beer net sales were down 3% largely driven by a decline in Smithwick and Harp. Guinness net sales were broadly flat as the launch of Guinness Nitro IPA offset the net sales decline of Guinness American Blonde Lager, which lapped the previous year launch, and Guinness draught which continued to be impacted by a crowded craft beer segment."
No further breakdown was available in this report by dollars or volumes sold, but I noted a few product types from this report, Nitro IPA for example. To find others, I located an article from a beer enthusiast website with ten Guinness styles sold.
-- DGUSA National 2016 Sales and Market Share In the U.S.
I found a third party source to provide market share data of Guinness brand for Imported Beer in the United States. The most popular Guinness product sold in the United States nationally is the Guinness Extra Stout, which according to Statista, has 1.1% market share of the total of the "US Imported beer brands (all types) in the US in 2016."
I also located a Brewers Association market report, on slide eight has the following information: "DGUSA SALES $101,628,137 "
This does not break down the product, for example, which type of Guinness was sold to make up this number.
-- St. Patrick's Day Sales.
One article reported that St. Patrick's Day accounted for about 15% of DGUSA's total sales of Guinness.
A National Estimate can therefore be made: approximately $15,244,220.55 in Guinness sales can be attributed to March 17th annually. ($101,628,137 x 0.15).
THE GUINNESS MARKET IN NEW YORK CITY
-- Market Share. The Street recent reported, "Here in the U.S., the biggest market for Guinness is New York City. Diageo-Guinness USA President Tom Day said, "New York City is our largest market. Obviously, markets like Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and L.A. are large markets (too)."
This market was not quantified by the company, however, a third party site, BevSpot.com ranked "Most Irish Cities" based on the Irish Beer Ordered at Bars on St. Patrick's Day. "The following material aggregates 2016 and early 2017 on-premise beer order data from about 300 BevSpot users across ten major metro areas. All figures represent percentages of orders in dollar terms." Guinness Draught is roughly 3.45% of the total market share of beers ordered at a bar (in terms of dollars, not UNITS). This report does not further break down whether cans, bottles, or draughts were ordered at the bar.
CANS, BOTTLES, AND DRAUGHTS
While specific information wasn't publicly available for Guinness or the DGUSA brands, I found an industry report on the growth of popularity of canned beer in the last few years. "A 1 percent bump in the last year put canned beer at 55.4 percent of the market in 2015. Bottles shrank 2.6 percent to 33.9 percent of the market, while draft beer has stayed flat at about 10 percent of the market."
Benefits to Manufacturers were highlighted, "There are plenty of benefits, including more consistent flavor profiles, as cans don’t allow any “skunkifying” light in. They are also cheaper to manufacture and the light cans are cheaper to ship, which means they’re also more environmentally friendly."
"Especially for millennial consumers, the shipping cost and conservation aspects are important. Younger consumers are more and more concerned about sustainability; 40 percent of them said they have chosen a product based on the environmental impact, according research from marketing and advising agency the Shelton Group."
The Brand Director for Guinness was also interviewed for can vs bottle article, and Guinness drinkers still seem to prefer the bottles as of 2015, “I can’t reveal the specifics of the cost-saving this represents to us, but it is a factor,” says Emma Giles, Guinness brand director. “However, the difference is not so significant that it overrides consumer preference.” Giles said Guinness consumers still largely favor bottles. But if the trend changes, Giles said that they will too."
CURRENT AND FUTURE TRENDS
-- Guinness Went Vegan in 2016
NYC is the number four vegetarian city in the United States, as reported by Statistic Brain in 2016. The New York Times reported that Guinness was going to change it's filtering process in August of 2016, and would be then able to market to vegetarians and vegans.
"Few customers — except perhaps vegans and vegetarians who enjoy a pint — were probably even aware that the famous inky-black drink contained any fish parts at all. But it is actually quite common for cask beers to be filtered using isinglass, a gelatinlike substance derived from the dried swim bladders of fish that is used to separate out unwanted solids like yeast particles from a brew, the company said. “Isinglass has been used widely within the brewing industry as a means of filtration for decades,” the company said in a statement on Monday after a report in The Times of London. “However, because of its use we could not label Guinness as suitable for vegetarians and have been looking for an alternative solution for some time.”
--Guinness Blends.
An interesting 2016 article from Kegerator.com, another beer enthusiasts website, describes 11 of the most popular "Guinness Blends."
The Guinness Draught bottle is sold with a second bottle of beer (the player) to create a beer blend and becomes a layered beer drink. I included this article because of you included additional information in your request to us that your purpose for this information was for sponsorship purposes. I thought that perhaps the suggested addition of Guinness to a portfolio of beers could be accompanied with a list of additional unique drinks to sell and try. I am unsure if this works with tap beers- but it might.
How to: "First, pour in “the Player” so it has a decent head and fills half the glass. Second, take a cheap spoon, bend it back at a 90° angle, hold the spoon in your glass close to the liquid surface and slowly pour Guinness over the surface of the back of the spoon. This disperses the falling liquid allowing it to sit on top instead of mixing in. You can also buy an already shaped spoon or several different kinds of inserts to make the pouring easier."
-- Beer Demographics
The Brewers Association Market report from 2016 has additional information on the alcoholic beverage market nationally. Starting on slide 24, the report indicates:
--In restaurants and bars, 37% of beers consumed on premises by Millennials are Craft beers (vs. 27% of "Gen Xers)
-- Quality of Beverage was a higher consideration over Price of beverage across all demographics (Millennials, Gen Xers, Baby Boomers, Seniors)
-- 2017 Growth in Guinness Stout Sales
I found an April 2017 Market Watch report with an interesting story on an of a new Guinness product, Irish Wheat Beer, driving consumers back to the Stout.
"Ironically, for all the emphasis that Guinness is placing on its non-stout brews, Giles says the strategy is about selling more stout. That is, Guinness is just trying to just build broader brand awareness. But the hope is such recognition will drive consumers to its flagship beer. The strategy appears to be working: Giles says U.S. sales for the stout are up 5% in the past year."
CONCLUSION
New York City is the largest market in the United States for Guinness, and approximately 3.45% of total market share of beer ordered in a bar in Guinness Draught. The parent company annual report reported Guinness sales flat in the U.S. in 2016, but for 2017, the company brand manager reported Guinness Stout sales up 5% after the introduction of Irish Wheat Beer. Changes affecting the brand in the U.S. within in the past year include Guinness going vegan, which should be great for NYC, and some recent reports on the growing craft beer industry and the affects on Millennials drinking more crafts in restaurants and bars than more recognized brands. Thank you so much for using Wonder! Please let us know how we can assist you again in the future!