Anheuser-Busch-owned brand Bud Light is on the verge of losing retail shelf space as sales continue to plummet following nationwide boycotts.
According to beer industry experts, places like 7-Eleven, QuikTrip, and Walmart may eliminate Bud Light’s refrigerator space in stores since nobody is buying the beverage.
“During a busy shopping period on a Friday or Saturday night, if you don’t have the beer available cold on the shelf, consumers pick something else,” former Anheuser-Busch InBev executive Anson Frericks told the outlet.
Frericks noted that help space is “the single largest determinant of sales in a store,” warning of a “dramatic shift” for Bud Light.
Meanwhile, vice president of analytics and insights at Bump Williams Consulting, Dave Williams, said retailers often monitor sales figures to determine what shelf space to give brands.
“There’s explosive growth on one side and sharp decline on the other,” Mr. Williams said, according to the broadcaster.
“This does have that ripple effect where if Bud Light loses space on the shelf, that could make it a longer-term endeavor to claw back to where they were if they’re ever able to do that in the first place.”
Over a month period ending in September 2023, sales for Bud Light dropped about 27 percent year-over-year, Bump Williams Consulting reported.
Those figures are consistent with Bud Light’s previous weekly sales figures since the nationwide boycott erupted following the Dylan Mulvaney sister in early April.
The Epoch Times reported:
A general manager at a Wisconsin Anheuser-Busch distributor, who wasn’t named, told ABC that retailers do not expect a “drastic change” anytime soon. But he warned that the Bud Light “boycott has lasted longer than anybody thought,” adding, “Every retailer has their own opinion for what sales warrant on their shelves. Time will tell.”
Last month, Anheuser-Busch’s American division revealed in its quarterly earnings report that it lost about $395 million amid the boycott and that U.S. revenue dropped about 10 percent year-over-year. Meanwhile, Bud Light lost its No. 1 spot to Modelo Especial, which is owned by Constellation Brands in the United States, in June.
Adding more fuel to the fire, a beer industry expert, Harry Schumacher of Beer Business Daily, told Fox News some Bud Light drinkers may never come back and have switched to other brands.
The boycott, he warned, is “actually worse than just lost sales because now it’s getting to the point where it’s becoming systemic within the industry, and they’re losing the confidence of the retailers, and that’s when it starts getting bad.”
The news comes just weeks after billionaire Bill Gates bought a whopping 1.7 million shares of Anheuser-Busch.
Gates bought the Anheuser-Busch shares through his Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust.
Gates’ shares have a market value of $95 million, according to TipRanks.
The Microsoft founder’s investments come as Anheuser-Busch is still dealing with the fallout from its disastrous partnership with transgender TikTok influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Former Anheuser-Busch president of operations, Anson Frericks, warned Gates that he would lose millions from the investment.
“Bill Gates is definitely making a mistake,” Frericks, now president of Strive Asset Management, said Wednesday on “Cavuto: Coast to Coast.”
“Earlier this year, he already made a $900 million mistake when he invested into one of Anheuser-Busch’s largest rivals, Heineken. He did that earlier this year. And since that investment, Heineken’s down about 10 percent, whereas the broader markets are up 10 percent.
“So, if I was looking for advice on investing to software companies, tech companies, I might go to Bill Gates. But if you’re looking at the beer industry, he doesn’t have a great track record of investing in winners at this point.”
READ: GO WOKE, GO BROKE: Liquor Store Pulls Bud Light from Shelves after Dylan Mulvaney Endorsement
