From todays Sunday Indo
"Pint of plain 'in free fall' as pubs lose pulling power
NICK WEBB
DESPERATE efforts by Diageo to stem the plummeting sales of the iconic national drink, Guinness, have failed, new figures obtained by the Sunday Independent reveal......
Off-licence sales jumped nearly 18 per cent last year, while Guinness grew at less than half of that rate, limping ahead by just 7.7 per cent.
Between sales at pubs and off-licences, Guinness saw its overall figures slump by an extraordinary 6.3 per cent, .........continuing falls from the previous year.....
Beamish.... increased its sales by over 3 per cent last year. "
I really love seeing virtual monolopies, arrogantly ignoring their customers protests, increasing their prices in order to increase profits, and then getting getting hammered as they allow competitors to build market share at their expense. All the more enjoyable and prolonging the pleasure, is seeing the length of time that it takes before the penny finally drops, and the company eventually starts reluctantly to read the writing on the wall.
GUINNESS WAKEY WAKEY!!! You have priced yourself out of the market. Consumers are voting with their feet and with their wallets. The only possible thing you can do is to cut your prices immediately before you lose even more market share.
Now panic is seetting in, we can expect more special offers, guinness poker nights, more discounts for publicans, more sponsorship etc. I love it. but in the end I predict that Guinness will be charging less in a years time that they are at present.
The dayss when the only choice was Guinness, Smithwicks or Harp are long gone.
Murt
http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=184&si=1770170&issue_id=15221