Shopping Pernod Ricard
If you walked into a liquor store not knowing that Pernod Ricard was one of the top ~5 companies represented in the store, would you walk out with that impression?
Lots of images on this one - if it isn’t loading in your inbox, click the title above to view on the web!
A luxury I have here, that I usually don’t, is that I can actually go see how companies I’m writing about show up in the market. Yes, reading reports is great (and I did that!), but being an “expert” in the market directly also helps.
So, last week I went to my local Total Wine to see what Pernod Ricard looks like to consumers. I don’t think I’ve ever shopped with this lens before, and what I saw really surprised me.
The Promo
Total Wine decided to help me in this endeavor by prominently displaying this promo across a whole bunch of PR brands (though not all of them), and it was repeated in most categories. So, it was pretty easy to see where the stuff I was looking for actually was.
This turned out to be important, because, as you can see above (and will see many more times) so many of these products were shelved on the bottom shelf. I don’t know exactly how shelving works these days (top-shelf refers to bars, not retailers), but I’m pretty certain that the bottom shelf isn’t the hot spot. I spent a lot of time in a squat…
Did PR piss off someone at TW? Is this just way cheaper and they’re looking for any and all margin boons? No idea! But, it was a very interesting (and annoying) theme of my trip.
Champagne and Wine
With several major brands, especially Mumm, I expected this to be extremely visible. It wasn’t:
The fancy Mumm display box helps, but I would have expected more. Turns out that I’m probably wrong, because Perrier-Jouet actually outsells it, but still: there’s over 100K cases sold between these brands, and it sure doesn’t look like that’s true.
And on the still wine side, the products feel like absolute also-rans despite the fact that, to my memory, Campo Viejo was really the spark that lit Rioja in the US.
“Ingredients”
Here, the PR brands to at least stand out (and up - no squats here)! And this makes sense to me:
Lillet is almost a category on its own, and Italicus next to it is a savvy way to increase visibility of a newer niche product in the portfolio And as far as absinthe is concerned, the namesake brands certainly pop.
Cognac
Again, no bottom shelf here! The full Martell brand is behind the glass in a “premium” case (though there’s more expensive stuff than that VS just out there ready to grab…):
Martell is a prominent brand, and it looks like it here. It’s certainly more competitive wit Hennessey than Mumm is with Moet…
Gin
Interestingly, no promo to be found here despite the 4 brands represented (half of which are, again, on the bottom shelf):
Plymouth (basically) next to Seagram’s is interesting here, though: Plymouth is very real and Seagram’s is a remnant of a budget brand that they bought a long time ago to grow in the US market. But to be fair, Roku doesn’t make sense down their either…
Whiskey
A whole (bottom) shelf of Jameson expressions!
I was surprised how much Green Spot there was nearby as well in the Irish section, and then flavored “whiskey” Screwball and Seagram’s 7 have their own spots staked out. 7Up right next to Seagram’s is fun, though - I should make a 7&7…
“Rum”
I don’t know what else to call these. “Tropical-esque sweeteners that have booze in them” is probably most accurate:
Both command a full shelf at least, though! I was shocked at how much Malibu is stocked.
Scotch
Again with good stuff on the bottom shelf:
Is Glenlivet amazing? No. But should it probably be more prominent than Chivas or Ballentine’s? Also yes. Regardless, though, this is a set where you’d accurately project PR as a market leader.
Tequila
I thought Avion was bigger than Altos, but boy was I wrong:
There is a premium Avion expression behind the glass though, which was nice to see. Altos clearly a growing presence, but again relegated to the bottom shelf…
Vodka
Another whole bottom shelf of a mass-market portfolio brand:
So much Absolut, but it wasn’t as overwhelming as I expected. There’s a lot of vodka out there…
Ready to Drink
Lots of options here, from bottled Absolut cocktails to seltzers in a can:
Honestly kinda want whatever that Malibu cooler is. I bet it has that terrible artificial coconut flavor that I weirdly, truly love.
The Pernod Ricard US Shelf Presence Market Map
I’ll return to the question in the headline: is it obvious that Pernod Ricard is one of the largest producers represented in the store?
No, not really. But here’s my real take: no one except AB InBev looks truly dominant in a liquor store, and even then it’s only in the back corner. There’s so much variety that it’s just too hard to be overwhelmingly visible. But given the number of promo tags for PR brands you’ll see, if you connect those dots you’ll realize “wow, these guys are everywhere.” Here’s how I’d say their shelf presence stacks up:
The big difference from their pure brand count is that Vodka and Fortified Wine look pretty strong, but their non-spirits offerings don’t really live up to the count of the portfolio. Whiskey is really still king it seems.