Bump Williams Consulting on the Importance of Defending Display Space, 1st Half 2025 Trends

While defending shelf space remains important, suppliers need to make sure they're also retaining lucrative display, floor, promotional and feature space, Bump Williams Consulting (BWC) president Dave Williams and VP of business development and portfolio strategy Brian "BK" Krueger shared in the latest edition of the Brewbound Podcast. "That's what really multiplies anything that you have on the shelf," Krueger said. Beer brands' display losses aren't just coming from competitors within the category – they're coming from other mega alcohol categories and even non-alcoholic (NA) beverages. "If you look at what's on the floor on display now, it's less alcohol across the board," Krueger said. "You're seeing more of the sodas, more of the flavor, more of the Olipops, more of the Poppis that are getting that space that used to be 50-, 60-case stacks of beer or seltzer or craft or domestic or import. "Now, it's gone, it's out of the mix," he continued. "And the frequency has also eroded away as well." Williams stressed that suppliers need to maintain alignment with their wholesaler and retailer partners to protect that space, which will be key to winning in the future. That alignment comes from being present in the market to maintain those relationships. In their conversation with Brewbound senior reporter Zoe Licata, Williams and Krueger also discuss first-half 2025 trends in detail with a few reality checks along the way. "It hasn't gotten notably worse, but it hasn't also gotten markedly better," Williams said of early year trends. "The reality [is] that beer and malt in particular based products, that consumer isn't coming back around in large droves. "I don't expect volume to come back in any meaningful way," he continued. "There are certainly some individual winners … I think a lot of behaviors from consumers right now are drawing people outside of the beer/malt world. They're slowing down their frequency of consumption or volume that they're consuming when they do go out and make a purchase at the package store. Krueger and Williams also share how craft brewers are leveraging other areas of bev-alc for growth, what's contributing to flavored malt beverages' (FMB) struggles this year and whether consumers are making pricing-based decisions. Plus, the Brewbound team reconvenes to discuss Jim Koch's return as CEO of Boston Beer and Michael Spillane's forthcoming exit after 16 months. Justin, Jess and Zoe explain why the CEO change felt out of left field, what it means for Koch to return to power after 24 years and how the conversation around internal candidates is being framed.