• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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BusinessDay

Guinness Nigeria set to regain market share with launch of new premium brand

beer

Diageo-owned Guinness Plc. recently announced the launch of a new premium lager beer into the market named Guinness Gold. Before now it only has the Harp brand in the premium lager segment.

The new brand according to the company is infused with crystal malt and amber malt, using the same Guinness yeast as the iconic Guinness stout ensuring that the Guinness Gold drinker enjoys the fruity flavours that savour the flavour.

Guinness is in dare need of a market penetrating brands because its flagship products “ Guinness Stout” is grappling with demographic shift as young Nigerian no longer drink Stout. Instead they prefer product brewed by rival company International Breweries and Nigerian Breweries.

Until recently the beer market in Nigeria was a two horse race between Guinness and Nigerian Breweries.

Interestingly the battle in the beer market became more intense with the entrance of the World’s largest beer maker, AB In Bev into the market.

The year 2011 ushered in a disruption in the beer market with the arrival of SABMiller, which was then the world’s second-largest brewer, into the country, and its acquisition of majority shares in International Breweries Plc, makers of Trophy Beer, located in Ilesa, Osun-State. However, in 2017, AB InBev acquired 72.17% of SABMiller’s shares in International Breweries Plc, in a series of transactions which resulted in AB InBev acquiring controlling interests in the company.

After the acquisition, a merger arrangement was try. The company recently introduced the Tiger Beer brand into the Nigerian market.

Report by a market research group, Global Data, reveals that Africa is the fastest growing region for beer consumption. Nigeria, however, leads the pack of 10 biggest beer drinking countries on the continent. Beer brands make up just 16 percent of alcohol consumption in the country, while other drinks (spirits and locally brewed drinks) make up 84 percent.

  The dwindling purchasing power of most consumers in the country accounted for the shift from the premium beer brands to value beer brands.

Wale, 27, a bar attendant in one of the biggest bars on Opebi revealed that there has been a paradigm shift by consumers from expensive brands to more affordable brands.

“Before now the beer parlor is a place where people come to show their status with the type of brand they drink, but in recent times, things have changed as most no longer spend like before and they mostly order for the cheap brands,” he said.

Guinness said the new Guinness Gold will improve the lager beer drinking experience of consumers in the country and will be available in selected outlets for N350 for a 600 ml bottle.

The introduction by Guinness into the premium lager segment is a welcome development and the new the brand must be ready to battle the already existing premium brands in the market. Nigerian Breweries owns several brands in the premium lager segment, Star, Heineken just to mention few, International Brewery has Trophy and the recently-launched global brand, Budweiser, while Guinness Nigeria has Harp in this segment.