Sudsy American dream sells abroad(2)
AB InBev's profit grew to $5.86 billion from $4.03 billion.
The Budweiser brand's U.S. market share last year slipped to 8.4%, behind Coors Light, which grew to 8.7%, and Bud Light, which had a 19.1% market share, according to Beer Marketer's Insights, a trade publication and data service. Budweiser's U.S. volume sales are down by nearly half in the past decade. The last time Budweiser volume sales rose in the U.S. was 1988.
Parent company AB InBev still enjoys nearly a 50% market share in the U.S., but the brewer's dominance in America is slipping, and it has been leaning more heavily on imported brands. Sales of Stella Artois, its biggest Belgian brand, rose 24% in the U.S. last year. The company also is shifting some production of Beck's, its biggest German brand, to St. Louis.
At the same time, AB InBev launched Budweiser last August in Brazil, where the company already enjoys about a 70% market share on the back of major local brands Skol, Brahma and Antarctica. Executives say initial sales of Budweiser, which is being marketed as a more premium product abroad, are going well in South America's biggest market.
Budweiser posted double-digit growth last year in China, the brand's second-largest market by volume, boosted by the recent rollout of Budweiser aluminum cans in 37 cities. Budweiser also is the No. 1 beer brand again in Canada after its market share rose to 13% in 2011, its highest ever, according to AB InBev.
Budweiser has built up about a 1% market share in Russia, another huge beer market, since the brand was rolled out in that country in 2010, AB InBev said.
Even with slumping U.S. sales, Budweiser's global volume rose 3.1% in 2011 to 37.6 million hectoliters, or 993 million gallons, the company said. Budweiser volumes grew 1.7% in 2010, the first time in two decades that the brand grew globally.
AB InBev has had to tweak its marketing campaign in various countries. In Canada, the slogan is "Why Not Grab Some Buds,'' in a nod to local regulators uncomfortable with a beer company commanding citizens to drink.
Mr. Warner said Budweiser also has been grappling with regulations in Russia that prohibit people from appearing in beer advertisements. Instead, Budweiser ads have included fireworks and city skylines.
In the Middle East, AB InBev has been making inroads with a non-alcoholic version of Budweiser, Mr. Warner added.
Budweiser represents about a tenth of global volume at AB InBev, which boasts more than 200 brands. Other big-selling brands include Leffe, Hoegaarden and Quilmes.
