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Sept. 10, 2012: Private-Label, Craft Beers See Sales Growth

While beer volume was up across all retail channels through July 8, supermarkets still lag other channels of trade, according to a report from Chicago-based SymphonyIRI Group. The 2012 Mid-Year Beer Category & Craft Review found that supermarkets’ share of dollar sales was down 1.8 points for the 52 weeks through July 8, while drug stores, mass merchants, supercenters, club stores and specialty retailers all showed gains in share. (For more on the report, see Page 34.) Craft beers and private-label beers are among the top growth areas of the category in supermarkets. Craft beer represents 11% of supermarket dollar sales year-to-date in 2012, up from 9.5% in all of 2011. Private-label beer sales, which more than doubled in the supermarket and drug channels in 2011, to just over 2 million cases, are on pace to surpass that level in 2012 with 1.1 million in case volume year-to-date. Click here for a related story.