Grocery stores that stock Bud Light are planning to shrink the shelf space allotted to the nation’s formerly top-selling beer — by nearly 20% in some parts of the country — after sales tanked following a boycott over its advertising partnership with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
The Anheuser-Busch brand — which was knocked off its perch this year by Modello after more than two decades at the top — will be squeezed out as store managers rearrange the alcoholic beverages section to give more precious real estate to better-selling beers, according to Bloomberg News.
“Anheuser-Busch’s beers will lose a range of about 10% to 15% of their space nationally as resets start,” Jesse Ferber, chief strategy officer for Columbia Distributing, which works with retailers such as Walmart and Target in the Pacific Northwest, told Bloomberg News.
Ferber said that while the final numbers won’t be known until May or June, he estimates that stores in certain regions of the country could downgrade Bud Light’s shelf space by as much as 18% while in other areas it could be as low as 5%.
Molson Coors Brewing Co, whose stable of brands includes Coors Light, Miller Lite and Coors Banquet, expects to see an increase of shelf space of more than 10%.
Brian Feiro, president of US sales at Molson Coors, told Bloomberg that more than 50 retailers increased shelf space for Coors Light and Miller Lite by 6% to 7% last summer and fall.
An Anheuser-Busch spokesperson told Bloomberg News that the company anticipates “small shifts across brands” when it comes to shelf space.
The spokesperson said that Bud Light and Michelob Ultra, another Anheuser-Busch beer, are “the top two share-of-space brands in the beer industry.”
Bud Light sparked backlash from many conservatives after it sent a commemorative can last April to Mulvaney, who had shared an Instagram post of the custom tallboy to celebrate “365 Days of Girlhood.”
Subsequent posts were of Mulvaney cracking open a can of Bud Light in honor of March Madness.
The ensuing boycott has cost the parent company more than $1 billion in lost sales, according to estimates.
Anheuser-Busch InBev’s most recent earnings report showed that its US revenue declined 17.3% in the fourth quarter and 9.5% for the full year.
Last month, AB InBev CEO Michel Doukeris said that Bud Light has been slowly regaining its US market share since last May. The company has refocused its advertising on sporting events and concerts.
Despite Bud Light’s sales woes, it remains the country’s top-selling beer by overall volume, according to Bloomberg.
