Big Packs Driving Coors Light?

Average pack size up 8 percent.

Is Coors Light’s growth being driven by big packs or cans that turn blue?

Coors Light added 0.2 points of case and dollar share at supermarkets during the four weeks ended December 1, according to beer sales statistics from Nielsen.

During that same period, the average pack size of Coors Light sold increased by 8 percent. The only brand to see a bigger increase was Heineken Premium Light.

Brew Blog discussed in October how Coors has been placing increased focus on large packages to help drive Coors Light. For instance, Coors has been placing more promotional focus on 36-pack cans, as shown by increased feature, display and discount support.

And while 30/36 pack cans recently accounted for 19.6 percent of Coors Light’s volume in supermarkets, back in November 2004 they accounted for 15.7 percent, according to beer industry analysis from Nielsen.

Big boxes can help drive volume. But they also generally have lower average case prices, so their growth can “pull down” brand-level prices.

During the four week period ended December 1, Coors Brewing gained 0.6 points of case share. In addition to Coors Light's growth, Keystone Light was up 0.3 points, Coors Banquet was up 0.1 points and Blue Moon was up 0.2 points. Coors’ dollar share was up 0.5 points.

Anheuser-Busch saw case share slide by 0.6 points and dollar share drop by 0.9 points. As has been the case for a while, gains by Bud Light were more than offset by slippage from the Budweiser and Bud Select brands.

Miller Brewing Company’s case share fell by 0.3 points while dollar share was flat. Miller Lite lost 0.2 points of case share during the period.

Brew Blog's previous discussion of Coors Light's trend toward bigger packages can be seen here.