Jim Beam distributors invest £1m in new category vision

By Jo Gilbert

Published: 22 June, 2016

The UK's biggest whisky distributor is looking to capture a larger slice of the £90bn spirits category by turning their portfolio strategy on its head.

The UK's biggest whisky distributor is looking to capture a larger slice of the £9.3bn spirits category by turning their portfolio strategy on its head.

Maxxium UK unveiled a new category vision for their spirits portfolio last night which involves switching from a brand-led to a category-led approach, with a focus specifically on London.

This marks a big investment for the brand, having put £1million into research.

The Jim Beam, Famous Grouse, Courvoisier and The Macallan distributors have their sights set on the 10% incremental growth projected for the £9.3bn spirits category worldwide by 2020, which accounts for £942m.

With Maxxium brands accounting for 11% of the UK market, that is potentially a big slice of the pie - but according to Maxxium's category manager Paul smith, this is a conservative estimate.

"We've been quite pragmatic in our approach and our calculations. When you think that 10% of drinkers in the UK don't order spirits when they're out because they don't think the bar will make it properly - that's a big part of the market that we can tap into."

The way they are planning to do this is positioning their brands into a number of key growth drivers including "discovery", "adventure" and the "perfect experience".

These will be used to market the drinks to customers which will then in theory filter down to consumers.

The "discovery" label is represented by Jim beam, which is continuing to push its "entry level" flavoured whiskys which launched with Red Stag in 2012.

Debbie Ballach, senior brand manager for Jim Beam said: "Our flavoured whiskies now make up a third of all UK sales. They were designed to be accessible in terms of taste and get younger drinkers into bourbon which is why they come under the discovery category, but can also be described as refreshment.

"Jack Daniels [Jim Beam's biggest competitor] has done a lot to promote American whisky in the UK, but we believe we can push this further."

Maxxium UK are looking to close the gap between the US and the UK in terms of spirits up-take.

Currently, 22% of drinkers in the UK drink spirits as their drink of choice compared to 33% in the US.

According to the group, Maxxium UK currently has 22% market share of the malt whisky market nationwide and 11-12% of the American whisky market.

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