FINANCE
How much money has Bud Light lost in sales? Anheuser-Busch beer sales continue to plunge
Anheuser-Busch sales have continued to drop since the spring... how far have they fallen?
Earlier this year, the beverage giant came under fire from conservatives in the United States after a small partnership featuring transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. The company had sent her a personalized Bud Light can to celebrate the one-year anniversary of her gender transition.
However, the action prompted a rebuke from conservatives, and the most recent quarterly report from Anheuser-Busch shows that in the US, there are lingering impacts of the consumer boycott. Anheuser-Busch announced in late October that although sale volumes had fallen in the third quarter of this year, revenue increased five percent.
The company blamed the 3.4 percent volume decline on “performance in the US and a soft industry in Europe.” These weaker numbers from the US and Europe were enough to “offset” growth in other markets, including Middle Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Africa.
Sales fall, but profits rise
Although sales volume decreased, the company was still able to generate greater profits due to “price actions,” which likely means that prices were increased. In the third quarter, $1.7 billion in profits were generated, a five percent increase compared to the previous quarter.
The company did note that they continue to see a “revenue decline of Bud Light in the US,” which shows that the consumer boycotts that began in the spring may have shifted consumer shopping patterns. In the US, revenue fell 13.5 percent, but the company said that its share of the beer market “has remained stable since the last week of April through the end of September.” While “stable,” the decline in revenue is a concerning sign, and to get back in the green, Anheuser-Busch is placing an emphasis on their “key partnerships including [those with] the NFL and Folds of Honor, as well as new activations in college football and the NBA.” In this same vein, on 24 October, the UFC announced that it had reestablished a partnership with Anheuser-Busch, making Bud Light the official beer of the fighting league.