Corona Beer
Identify and discuss the trends in the global beer markets.
Brewing has historically been a local industry with only a few companies having a substantial international presence. However, the last couple of decades have seen increasing consolidation within the industry. Back in 2003, sales totaled 1,484 million hectoliters. The main impetus for growth came from increased consumption in developing countries, especially China. In more established beer markets, volume growth was slow due to increasing saturation. Also, lifestyle trends are encouraging a broad shift away from beers, as health consciousness increases and encourage consumers to cut down on heavy drinking. Fashion trends towards alternative drinks, such as wine, FABs and bottled water, have also constrained growth in beer sales. Furthermore, stricter drink-driving legislation is deterring consumers from drinking away from home. Global beer volumes are primarily being driven by growing disposable income, improvements in the quality of beer, marketing and advertising activities, and a steadily growing beer-consuming population base. An ongoing trend evident in emerging and growth markets is the substitution of beer in place of traditional, local spirits. This trend is driven by rising incomes and increasing responsiveness towards brands and marketing. In addition, demographic shifts towards urbanization and increasing westernization of tastes among younger generations have supported the shift towards beer. In mature markets, consumption rates vary based on product differentiation, and marketing and promotional activities.
Beer consumption is also affected by a range of other factors, including seasonality, weather, demographics, tax and duties, perceived health effects, responsible-use programmers, rules and regulations and the consumption of substitute products.
While the dominant trend in the beer market between 1998 and...