Boston Beer Co plans to expand its sales force next year as the firm has continued to outpace its bigger rivals on the US beer market.
The brewer is also looking to increase its marketing and promotion spend in 2011 and is prepared to forego some profits growth to make the extra investment. It said yesterday (4 November) that it would expand in order to “address the increasing competitive activity” to take advantage of “the opportunities that we see”.
Boston Beer operates at a different scale to the likes of Anheuser-Busch InBev and MillerCoors, but it spearheads a US ‘craft beer’ sector that has consistently bucked decline on the overall US beer market.
The firm yesterday reported volume sales up by 14% in the third quarter of 2010, compared with the same period of 2009. Depletions – volume sales from distributors to retailers – rose by 7%. Net sales increased by 14% to $124.5m for the period, largely due to higher demand for Samuel Adams beer.