PH’s Emperador wants to outsell Britain’s Smirnoff

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines is home to the world’s top-selling brandy: Emperador.

That claim to fame is no longer enough for Emperador’s maker, the Alliance Global Group Inc., which wants the brandy to unseat Britain’s Smirnoff as the second best selling spirit in the world by 2013. Kingson Sian, the President of Alliance Global, said he was confident the brandy is up to the task, citing to its 109.4% volume growth in 2011.

Currently, Emperador is the world’s 4th best-selling spirit, according to the market intelligence group Euromonitor International.

In Euromonitor’s “The Millionaires’ Club,” the 2012 ranking of 181 spirits based on 2011 sales, currently lists the top 3 sellers as: South Korea’s Jinro, followed by Britain’s Smirnoff, then South Korea’s Lotte Liquor.

Euromonitor called it “the largest actual increase in the history of the Millionaires’ Club.”

However, of the top 4, Emperador showed the most promising volume growth in 2011, swelling by triple digits, while the others eked by at single digit increases or actually dropped in sales.

Inspirational

While Smirnoff is a truly global brand with no more than 80% of its cases sold in any one region, Emperador relies on local sales.

Banking on the Philippine economy taking off, Sian is confident their sales of the “inspirational” brand will follow suit.

“Because of the way we position the product, it’s a bit inspirational. As the economy grows, there are more people who can afford better quality products,” said Sian at the sidelines of the COL Financial Group Inc. special customer briefing on October 22.

The group has also been persistently advertising its newer Emperador Light brand, which is expected to boost sales.

“The growth of Emperador itself was driven by strong innovation and marketing activity for the brand, with a key driver being the late 2010 launch of a light variant,” wrote Euromonitor in the 2012 edition of The Millionaire’s Club.

“Well, [it’s all about] the right products; the product quality and the imaging of the product. We were able to hit something that the market wants,” said Sian.

Election sales

The upcoming local election will also likely help boost the brand’s sales, the executive said. In the Philippines, the last months of 2012 and period before the May 2013 election usually boost domestic growth and fuel consumption.

Euromonitor pointed out that at times, “drinks are offered to voters at rallies to persuade them to attend.”

While it might be expected that an international brand with a large global reach would sell more cases, Euromonitor noted that local brands have “increased their domination of the list accounting for 103 brands (up from 93 last year), and demonstrating that the vast majority of spirits are still consumed in their country of origin.”

The group said that while demand for premium drinks is growing in Asia and emerging markets, “even with these trends there will still be huge demand for the cheaper local products as the majority of these countries’ populations will only be able to afford these products for the foreseeable future.”

Emperador, like the Philippine economy, may have found itself in a sweet spot. – Rappler.com