Ciders remain a key player in the stocking portfolio of the on-trade sector (HoReCa – hotels, restaurants, clubs, pubs and bars). Cider is good business and today accounts for about 9% of the total wet trade in Britain – a figure that’s expected to continue growing. However, the segment has undergone considerable change over the last few years and this overall figure doesn’t tell the whole story, so it really can pay to understand the particular market dynamics at play.

Probably the most marked changes are the dramatic growth in fruit ciders, as well as the falls in other sectors. Actual on-trade volume is only slightly up, although value is up considerably more, the current drivers being draught fruit ciders and perries (pear ciders), with traditional apple ciders down. This may change with the introduction of more cloudy apple ciders which some believe can become the fruit-flavoured equivalent of the straight apple sector.

The way the consumer buys cider has also changed, with bottles and canned cider sales falling across the board by as much as 10% (over 5% by value), but draught cider volume and value, other than apple ciders, increasing overall (over 7% in value terms). Draught cider now accounts for over 70% of all ciders sold.

However, from a business perspective, it really doesn’t make that much sense to remove packaged ciders from consumer choice in a venue. Indeed, with the cider-drinking gender split roughly at 50/50, there’s enough evidence to show that women are less likely to go for a draught product. Also, whilst the trend may be to fruit ciders, the UK cider market is the largest in the world and there are still plenty of consumers looking for a straight apple cider product.

The Rise of Fruit Ciders

White cider has lost its cool and is in decline, suffering a 2.8% slump in both value and volume over the past year, with even the brand leader losing volume, indeed slipping by twice this amount.

By contrast, fruit ciders are booming, now accounting for a third of all cider sales – a 3,000% increase in just 10 years and, by some estimates, in line to account for 50% of all ciders by 2024. This has been driven in large measure young adults (18 to 24-year-olds) who are now drinking between two and three times, and more, fruit ciders than white cider.

Image matters in today’s society and as seen with growth cocktails, Instagram matters! Over the years, white cider has attracted something of a negative image linked to heavy drinking and loutish behaviour. However in this new Instagram age, with a single picture summarising lifestyle, fruit ciders and their packaging are deemed to look – and be – more interesting and far more cool.

Taste and price come into the equation, too, with twice as many cider drinkers stating that fruit ciders taste better than white ciders, with fruit ciders also viewed as being more refreshing. Interestingly, while white cider had price in its favour, that value (or, more accurately, ‘cheap’) perception is also in general decline. Of course, in Scotland the introduction of minimum unit pricing, with Wales due to adopt MUP later this year, saw average cider prices rise by almost 18% at a stroke, so the white cider price advantage is likely to continue to be eroded.

Fruit flavours and new tastes, some bordering on the exotic, are certainly broadening interest in the category against what cider drinkers sometimes see as blander products: hence flavours such as kiwi and lime, passionfruit and apple, mixed berries, dark fruits, cranberry, raspberry, blueberry, elderflower, a clear demonstration that consumers are looking to try something different and willing to experiment with flavour profiles.

A word too about low calorie and low alcohol ciders: cider is a dynamic market with both low- and no-alcohol products, targeting the younger generation and the health-conscious, as well as expanding on cider occasions, on the up, added to which there have been a number of recent launches of low-calorie versions.

The Growing Interest in Craft Ciders

Whilst the craft movement is in no way unique to cider, there’s actually been a 10% volume increase in so-called craft or heritage ciders, reflecting growing consumer interest in the process of how things are made, what goes into the products they’re buying, and where the ingredients come from. Some view this as something that may work to halt the recent downward volume trend for apple ciders.

These traditional apple and pear ciders are bang on trend in terms of what some may call a paradoxical interest in premium products in today’s harsher and more uncertain economic climate. These premium ciders hark back to earlier times and are made from 100% freshly-pressed apple or pear juice, whereas the current UK regulations allow a drink to be called ‘cider’ if it contains only 35% juice, all of which can come from concentrate (this is a higher percentage than in other countries – in Sweden it’s 15% and Australia has no set amount at all). The consumer is generally unaware of this low fruit content and there is a move currently to develop a new premium cider category which can only benefit the cider industry as a whole – increasing the margin potential for producers, distributors and retailers alike, both in the on- and off-trade – with the prospect of growing the sector, adding price points, as well as improving consumer knowledge and providing more choice.

Like a wine (the law requires that a ‘wine’ has to be made from 100% freshly-pressed grapes), these premium ciders, made from 100% freshly pressed apples (or pears), display the whole range of wine-like qualities: the finesse, the elegance, the variations in taste that come from the varietals used, the orchards in which they grew, and the skill and the passion of the cider maker. They can be contemporary, boundary-pushing and edgy, terms that some people use to describe their rather distant fruit cider cousins. Whilst many of these quality ciders are ‘local’ and small scale, some of the biggest cidermakers also produce individual ranges that follow this far stricter production protocol.

The big difference is that they’re authentic, superbly tasty and not chock full of added sweeteners and aroma-enhancing additives. They are usually lower in alcohol compared to a glass of wine and gluten-free. The serving vessel can easily be differentiated using wine glasses for example to denote a different approach. These premium, high production value ciders should be looked at seriously as part of any cider-stocking policy: premium products with good margin potential and a ready and growing audience.