Sainsburys to tap into cocktail culture

Sainsbury’s is installing cocktail bays in 280 of its stores this week in a bid to tap into a growing trend for mixing drinks at home.

The new fixtures will include the ingredients for making classic cocktails such as the Mojito and Cosmopolitan, as well as glassware, shakers and strainers, while shelf barkers will explain how to make the drinks.

The supermarket has also created a recipe book featuring 50 cocktails, which will be sold alongside the drinks and accessories.

Explaining the development, Justin James, head of beers, wines and spirits at Sainsbury’s, said, “We were selling a very interesting category in a grocery mentality way and the fixture had not changed in many years.”

He explained that the new bays were an attempt to reinvigorate the spirits aisle and admitted that the category had been “subsumed in a price/value message and become one dimensional.”

He also said that the supermarket had “highlighted a particular trend for cocktails, so we wanted to make it a one-stop-shop for consumers to buy into that.”

Sainsbury’s spirits buyer, Vanessa Pearson, added that the bay had been designed to be “an easy introduction into the world of cocktails,” and “an inspiration” – citing the installation of “extra large” shelf barkers and creation of the cocktail book.

James concluded that it was “about making it fun and easy,” and confirmed that the bays would be operational in all 280 stores by the end of the week.

“You are not going to get business just from the drift from the on- to the off-trade, you need to go out there and get that business. It’s about getting into the psyche of the consumer and we have to do a better job as retailers in finding a way to engage with consumers,” he stated.

Sainsbury’s is currently the second largest UK retailer of spirits with an 18% share of the off-trade spirits market behind Tesco, which has a 30% share.

Patrick Schmitt, 14.03.2011