Spirits Takes Share, But…..

Dear Client:In 2009, spirits market share versus beer and wine grew 0.5 points by volume to 30.2%. But when you look at dollars, it declined -0.2 points by revenue to 32.9%. So basically spirits gained volume share by cutting price and trade down. Indeed, real pricing was basically flat for spirits, compared to an average pricing increase of nearly 3% in previous years. And mix shift was terrible, reducing net sales by -2.4% according to estimates of Chris Pitcher at