The companies said the new alcoholic beverage will come in the form of
IWSR Drinks Market Analysis, a data firm, said sales of hard seltzers like White Claw and Truly jumped more than 200% last year to
On a retail level, that's already happened. Nielsen said sales of hard seltzer were up 211% in 2019. Even with pandemic-related closures and people generally staying home more, retail sales of hard seltzer are up 192% year-to-date and 186% in the 29 weeks since the pandemic hit. Those numbers don't include sales declines at bars, restaurants and other venues that had to close for extended periods due to the virus outbreak.
“While hard seltzer’s growth has slowed slightly, we don’t see it approaching market saturation, and instead there is plenty of room for growth — particularly when you consider new launches and new buyers of hard seltzer,” said
Coke was likely looking to get into the booming hard seltzer market before its revenue plunged 28% in the second quarter due to the coronavirus outbreak. Half of Coca-Cola’s sales come from stadiums, movie theaters and other places where people gather in large numbers — venues that have mostly shut down during the pandemic.
Coke bought the 125-year-old Topo Chico brand in 2017 for
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