Olympics effect inspires Britons to drink more

Britain's magnificent tally of medals at the Rio Olympics has led to surging sales of champagne across the country.

Market researchers say alcohol sales rose 8.5 per cent this summer, despite an otherwise flat food and drink market, as Britons toasted the Olympic and Paralympic victories in Brazil.

The increase of 8.5 per cent year-on-year took place across the past four weeks. Sales of Prosecco and Champagne were up 36 per cent, says the Financial Times.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The data comes from the market research firm Kantar Worldpanel, which attributes the rise in alcohol sales to the fact that "consumers have been keen to celebrate Britain's Olympic and Paralympic golden summer".

The spike was assisted by supermarkets offering Olympics-themed discounts on bubbly. Kantar said: "Promotional events across a number of retailers successfully tapped into the nation's celebratory mood."

The data also shows how supermarkets are faring against each other. Tesco is still the biggest grocery retailer in the country, with 28.1 per cent of the market, even though its sales are still declining each year.

However, Tesco's 0.2 per cent decline in the third quarter of 2016, year-on-year, is its best performance since the first quarter of 2014.

Sainsbury's, the next biggest grocer, saw its sales fall 1.4 per cent as it reduced prices, leaving it with 15.9 per cent of the market.

The third-biggest supermarket Asda was left with a 15.7 per cent stake after its sales fell 5.4 per cent, while Morrisons saw its sales drop by 2.3 per cent, leaving it with a 10.4 per cent market share.