Drinks

Craft Beer Market Still Untapped

By Publications Checkout
Craft Beer Market Still Untapped

The craft beer sector in Ireland still has huge potential to be built, as advertising agency McCannBlue describes it as an "untapped market".

Susan Kelly, a strategic planner for the agency told the Sunday Business Post that craft beer companies can become "trailblazers" in the alcohol market.

Despite hugely increasing in popularity and sales in recent years (sales have tripled since 2011) the craft beer sector still only accounts for approximately 1.5 per cent of the entire beer market.

Kelly states that Irish companies such as O'Hara's, 8 Degrees Brewing and microbrewery Galway Bay Brewing can imitate the success of American brewers like Sierra Nevada and Founders, where craft beer sales account for 7.8 per cent of the beer market.

"The market is akin to America in the 1850s, when people were exploring the new frontier to the West," said Kelly. "It's a grandiose analogy, but it's apt."

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In a qualitative study titled Discovery Beer and Cider Report the agency found that 60 per cent of people they asked couldn't name any craft beer, while 70 per cent wanted to learn more about them.

Kelly says that so-called craft beer "pioneers" are who the companies should focus on, they are the people who seek out new tastes and will recommend through word of mouth as well as online.

Online marketing, as well as offline POS and information, says Kelly, are the key to success for these companies who are just scratching the surface of the potential in the market.