So you know I don't usually bash the big boys because I think it's unnecessary but I saw this today at my local Walmart on the Westbank and thought to myself, "What a serious waste of space." I understand that Bud Light is a big seller but come on people this is ridiculous. Each and every spot on the shelf is valuable real estate and to give one brand of beer this much facing is just plain stupid. And just to clarify something: This isn't AB doing it, it's the local distributor. Come on Southern Eagle! This is just disgusting. And to think I thought craft beer sales were on the rise and macro sales were dropping. This shelf set would speak otherwise huh?
Cheers!
The Beer Buddha
UPDATE: I was contacted by Southern Eagle and they informed me that in fact this was not a distributor shelf set but rather based on a Walmart planogram.
3 comments:
Southern Eagle may as well be AB. I have intimate knowledge of how distributors and corporate entities work together to build schematics and implement them. AB has a sick habit of selling the idea of holding power and "number one package" to large stores like Walmart, which makes it easier for them to keep an item in stock. Walmart is a joke in general, a nightmare to deal with, and not particularly valuable real estate for small craft breweries. This is especially true for Walmarts in the South, where average consumers are not seeking out craft or import beer. While I personally detest the large breweries, having worked for them for a number of years; I am not worried about their gross misappropriation of a box in a Walmart. It happens far more often than is reasonable and usually won't last. Once MillerCoors reps see it they will send pictures and emails up the chain and numbers will get crunched and things will be changed. It might also have been done for a walkthrough. All in all however the big boys are still in decline. Big Red is dying a slow death and his blue sister is starting to suffocate as consumers move back up to wine, down to four loko, or become educated to crafts. Inane moves like the one you witnessed at Walmart are acts of desperation that I laugh at (since I don't have to deal with it any more).
I'm all about the big boy bashing but that photo leaves me speechless. And it 7:30 am too, thus "speechless" til I get my coffee.
How is this not indicative of a monopoly? Then again...isn't Walmart basically a monopoly when one comes to town and causes all the other similar small local businesses to close?
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