Bud Light Hits Panic Button: “The shocking deterioration of Bud Light market share continued, we’ve never seen such a dramatic shift in national share in such a short period of time”
Bud Light is in trouble as sales continue to plummet according to data released by Bump Williams Consulting. Bud Light sales were down 21.4% compared to the same time last year. The week before, sales were down 17%.
“Larger packages of Bud Light are not being purchased — the 30-pack suitcases, the 20 packs, the 18 packs, the 12 packs — they’re all being impacted,” Williams said. “It’s going to be very very hard to reverse the decline.”
“I think it runs the risk of losing that No. 1 position at the end of calendar year 2023 to Modelo Especial,” Williams said. Bud Light is the bestselling beer in the US. Last year were around $4.8 billion.
The No. 2 brand, Modelo Especial, sold $3.75 billion while Michelob Ultra generated $3.3 billion in sales.
“Her big miss was I don’t think she understood who the core Bud Light shopper was,” Williams said of Alissa Heinerscheid, the vice president of marketing.
“When she came out with her comments, they were deemed as being derogatory, insulting and juvenile,” Williams said.
“And the Bud Light drinkers said ‘Enough of that’.”
Former Anheuser-Busch president of sales and distribution, Anson Frericks, said:
“Anheuser-Busch has forgotten who it is accountable to. it’s accountable to its shareholders.
“We’re a month into this controversy and the reason we’re still into this and still talking about it is Anheuser has not been clear about what Bud Light stands for.
“Traditionally it’s been an apolitical brand that did not get into politics.”
According to The New York Post:
A staggering sales hit for Bud Light is worsening with each passing week following an ill-fated marketing tie-up with transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney — with the latest weekly figures showing a staggering 21% drop.
During the week ended April 22 — the most recent industry data available — Bud Light sales plunged 21% — accelerating from their 17% slide a week earlier and an initial weekly drop of 6% when the controversy kicked off during the first week of April, according to Nielsen IQ and Bump Williams Consulting.
Meanwhile beer volumes — the number of cases sold, whether in packs of 12, 18, or 24 cans — dropped an even steeper 26% last week, versus a 21% drop a week earlier and an initial drop of 11%, according to the data.
The latest numbers show Bud Light sales continue to drop after the company announced its controversial partnership with trans-activist and social media star Dylan Mulvaney on April 1.https://t.co/E9DzPhzWu8
— 7News DC (@7NewsDC) May 2, 2023
Beer Experts are SHOCKED:
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) May 2, 2023
“The shocking deterioration of Bud Light market share continued apace through the third week of April–and actually somehow worsened. We’ve never seen such a dramatic shift in national share in such a short period of time,” Beer Business Daily wrote.