RTD sales pass £700m in UK off-trade
Ready-to-drink (RTD) sales in the UK off-trade jumped by double digits last year but the overall spirits category declined.
The RTD category covers spirits and mixers in a can, canned cocktails, bottled cocktails and hard seltzers.
As revealed in the Wine and Spirit Trade Association’s (WSTA) new Sip 2 report, RTDs have enjoyed 12% year-on-year volume growth and a 17% rise in value.
The Sip 2 report uses NIQ data measured from the year to 27 December 2025.
According to the report, RTDs generated £704 million (US$948m) in the UK’s shops and supermarkets last year.
The upwards trajectory of RTDs contrasts against a declining spirits category in the UK off-trade, which lost £40m (US$54m) in sales in the three months up to 3 January 2026, according to the report.
The report also claimed that 44% of RTD sales are coming from drinkers making the switch from spirits.
While spirits grew during the Covid-19 period when consumers were making cocktails from home, the cost-of-living pressures that followed have seen consumers seek out more affordable RTDs.
Volumes in this segment have grown by 17% in the UK off-trade since 2024, according to NIQ data.
Chief executive of the WSTA, Miles Beale, said: “It is welcome news to see a bright spot in the sales data. The UK spirits sector has been experiencing plummeting sales following the biggest duty increase in almost 50 years in August 2023.
“The government’s typically disappointing and shortsighted policy to keep raising alcohol tax in line with growing inflation is delivering less revenue to the Treasury and continues to prolong the doom loop.
“The WSTA’s new Sip 2 report shows a shift in shoppers spending from traditional alcohol categories to RTDs, as on-the-go drinks in smaller packages prove increasingly popular to hard-pressed consumers.
“Our innovative distillers need support to help them to continue to revitalise the sector and deliver growth, investment and boost UK jobs.”
Beale and other leading voices in the industry have increasingly spoken out against the pressure the UK’s duty rises on alcohol puts on the nation’s producers.
The latest alcohol excise duty receipts from the UK government’s His Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) authority has seen spirits revenue fall by 2.3% to £4.06 billion (US$5.5bn) for the 2025/26 year.
The Spirits Business previously looked at whether the industry can survive another tax increase.
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