Beer and spirits have always felt like the steady heartbeat of alcohol in independent convenience.
They’re the categories everyone assumes they understand. Volumes go up and down with the weather. Bank holidays give you a lift. December trades value as shoppers switch to premium for Christmas. But the hierarchy? That’s meant to stay broadly the same.
Beer will always be beer. Spirits will always be spirits. And the Top 10? Largely predictable.
That’s the story most of us carry around.
The problem is: when you actually look at the data from independent convenience, that sense of stability turns out to be far more fragile than it appears.
Looking across the independent convenience estate, the headline figures for alcohol look reassuringly consistent.
In 2024, each store selling alcohol sold an average of 1,932 units.
So far in 2025, that figure sits at 1,919 units.
Month by month, behaviour follows familiar patterns:
At a category level, nothing looks broken. Beer remains the largest sub-category by both units and value, followed by spirits.
For many brands, this is exactly where the analysis stops. The numbers feel logical. The explanations feel comfortable. The category looks “known”.
But this is usually the moment where people stop looking — and miss what’s happening underneath.
Even when total volumes hold steady, brand performance inside independent convenience does not.
Look at the beer Top 10 in 2025 compared to 2024 and, on the surface, it appears relatively stable. The entrants are largely the same. Positions have shifted, but not dramatically.
Until you spot the real surprise.
Guinness has dropped out of the Top 10, replaced by Heineken. That’s not a minor reshuffle — it’s a reminder that even the most established brands are not immune to pressure in independent convenience.
At the same time, San Miguel’s movement reflects the very real impact of structural change, following its distributor transition in the UK. This isn’t about shopper sentiment alone; it’s about execution, availability, and how quickly disruption shows up at store level.
These are the kinds of shifts that are easy to miss if you only look at category totals. Stability at the top can mask volatility underneath.
Industry bodies like the Association of Convenience Stores consistently highlight how sensitive independent convenience is to availability, ranging, and local execution — factors that can materially impact performance long before they show up in headline share figures.
If beer shows subtle cracks, spirits appear even calmer.
In spirits, the Top 10 in independent convenience shows just one change in position year on year, with High Commissioner and Fireball swapping places. On paper, that looks like nothing much at all.
But that’s exactly the point.
Independent convenience rarely delivers dramatic swings. Change happens through small movements, incremental pressure, and slow shifts in shopper behaviour. By the time a big change is obvious, it’s usually been happening for a while.
Beer and spirits aren’t “boring” categories in independent convenience. They’re deceptive ones.
When volumes look stable, it’s easy to assume risk is low. When you’re in the Top 10, it’s tempting to believe position equals security. The data shows that neither assumption holds for long.
Change in independent convenience happens quietly. Brand positions erode before they collapse. Opportunities appear before anyone labels them as trends.
This is exactly how unknown unknowns surface in independent retail. Not through dramatic swings, but through subtle shifts that only become obvious once it’s too late to react.
From the outside, beer and spirits can look like the safest categories in independent convenience.
From the inside, when you can actually see what’s happening store by store, they’re anything but.
That difference in perspective usually comes down to who’s got their hands on the right data, and as it so happens, we happen to know a business that can help your brand do just that 😉
Call us!
