Pink drinks are on the up

Statistics | 14 February, 2019

Valentines Day traditionally sees a surge in sales of pink drinks and this year there are more shades of pink products available than ever before.

2018 was a record year for gin sales with Brits buying 66 million bottles of gin in 12 months, up 41% on the same period the year before and worth over £1.9 billion.

A huge part of the gin surge last year was down to sales of pink and flavoured gin as Britain has seen hundreds of new products coming onto the market.

Flavoured gin has driven over half of all growth in gin sales in the last recorded 12 months, despite only making up one fifth of total sales. Almost three quarters of the flavoured gin sector’s growth has been driven by pink gin.

Two years ago only a handful of brands were making flavoured gin, then last year the category was valued at £165 million, up a whopping 751% on the same period the previous year.

Research has shown that the explosion in the flavoured and pink gin category comes down to its appeal to consumers under 45.

The category is expected to continue to grow in 2019 as brands are set to launch new flavoured and pink gins on to market.

But it’s not just gin sales that have left drinks producers tickled pink, in 2018 sales of rosé in Britain’s supermarkets, off licences and shops were up on the previous year for the first time in five years.

The WSTA’s latest figures show that Brits bought over 100 million bottles of rosé, in the off trade in the last recorded 12 months, over 2 million more bottles than in the previous year, with value growth of 5%.

After record sales of rosé last year, Aldi supermarket has said they are expecting to sell an impressive 13 million bottles in 2019, enough to fill four Olympic swimming pools.

According to the WSTA’s latest market report although it sells in much larger quantities red wine’s volumes decreased slightly, whilst white wine sales stayed stable.

And in the cocktail category we have seen an explosion in popularity of herbal bitter liqueurs and red-orange aperitif’s mixed with sparkling wine. These drinks served in pretty stem glasses have proved very ‘Instagrammable’ and consumers were keen to share their snaps of the vibrant, colourful cocktails on social media.

During the 2018 heatwave Brits bought over 4 million bottles of non-cream liqueur cocktails from our supermarket’s and shops. Astonishingly the sales were up 56% on the same 12 weeks the year before, the equivalent of an extra 1.4 million extra bottles.

Miles Beale Chief Executive of the Wine and Spirit Trade Association said:

“Pink drinks are increasingly popular thanks to our innovative distillers and wine makers who are responding to consumer demands for quality drinks with a splash of colour. We have seen a massive increase in the choices of pink and flavoured gins, there are signs of a renewed fondness in rosé wines and liqueurs like Campari and Aperol mixed with sparkling wine have boosted Brits love of pink cocktails. The introduction of new products combined with a fantastic long hot summer has helped boost the pink category and Valentine’s Day will no doubt see another pink spike. There is no doubt that the pink category has benefited by consumers love for sharing vibrant, colourful drink trends on social media.”

Julie Ashfield, Managing Director of Buying at Aldi UK, comments:

“We usually see a rise in rosé sales as the weather gets warmer and we move into Spring, but recently we’ve started to see an increased demand for rosé all year round, thanks to drinkers who love to post about it on Instagram, and pair it with a variety of foods.

“To meet this rising demand, we’ve stocked our shelves already and are expecting an early rush on sales. Our new Beaujolais style will be joined by our biggest ever rosé collection this Easter, which we’re confident will be incredibly popular with our shoppers.”