Coronavirus lockdowns sent Chinese drinkers looking online for beer – Budweiser APAC came out on top in the race to get it to them

The regional arm of Anheuser-Busch InBev Group, which owns brands such as Corona and Stella Artois, saw double-digit growth in e-commerce sales this year, CEO Jan Craps said

Its success online is owed in part to its dominance of China’s premium beer market, say analysts, who expect that to persist for years to come

Reading Time:5 minutes

A virtually empty bar in Shanghai before full lockdown, as people steer clear of crowded spaces for fear of catching Covid-19. Photo: Reuters

Published: 12:30pm, 8 Nov 2020Updated: 10:03pm, 8 Nov 2020

When bars and nightclubs closed and restaurant dining was largely off limits at the height of the coronavirus outbreak, Chinese brewers raced to develop brand and marketing strategies that would drive their online sales – and Budweiser Brewing Company APAC seems to have come out on top.

Despite experiencing a US$400 million drop in profits in the first nine months of the year, Budweiser’s Asian unit saw consistent double digit growth in online sales, and triple-digit growth in “new retail” channels such as Meituan and Eleme, two Chinese e-commerce platforms, according to the company’s CEO, Jan Craps.

“E-commerce has been a growing channel for beer for several years, but recent events with Covid-19 have accelerated consumer adoption,” Craps said. “Because there were lockdowns in the first quarter, obviously people were forced to stay home and many of them discovered the convenience of home delivery.”

The company now boasts twice the market share in the e-commerce space as any of its nearest competitors, including China Resources Beer and Tsingtao Brewery, according to Craps.

While China’s nightlife has all but returned to normal, the company’s foray into e-commerce would continue to be a major focus of investment for Budweiser going forward, he said.

E-commerce may intuitively seem like a dead-end for the industry – consumers are presumably less interested in drinking at home than out with friends, and there are delivery costs to factor in.

Budweiser APAC owes its success in part to its dominant position in China’s pricier beer markets – referred to in industry parlance as “premium” and “super-premium” beers – which is where Chinese consumer tastes have been trending for years, according to Euan McLeish, a managing director at Sanford C. Bernstein.