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INGWEBU Breweries recorded a 10 percent increase in sales during the festive season when the company was running a promotion to celebrate its 100 years of service and excellence.
Speaking at the final grand draw on Saturday, the company’s managing director Reginald Ndhlovu expressed gratitude to their customers for the support they have been giving them over the years.
“During the first days of the promotion, customers’ response was not encouraging but as the promotion continued, we received overwhelming response and we thank our customers for the support,” he said.
Ndhlovu said the promotion resulted in an increase in sales although the main objective of the promotion was to give cheer to the customers for the continued support.
“The sales increased by 10 percent during the festive season and the promotion although we had targeted to reach 15 percent increase in sales. The objective of the promotion was not only to help our business partners increase their sales or make more money during the festive season, but to give cheer to our customers in a year that has not been very exciting for them,” he said.
The Ingwebu “100 years siburorotha s’jaiva sonke” summer promotion, which ran for two months, was aimed at improving the company’s services, boosting business and to contribute to the national economic growth.
“The promotion was a way of giving back to the community which has showed continued support for the past years,” said Ndhlovu.
The grand draw saw three lucky winners going home with a 42-inch LED plasma television and a refrigerator with a water dispenser.
The grand winner drove away in a Honda Fit, the first time in history of Ingwebu to include a car on its prize list.
The draw was held at MaKhumalo Beer Garden popularly known as Big Bhawa in Makokoba.
Meanwhile, beverages manufacturer Delta says demand remained flat during the festive season with revenue declining three percent.
Beverages demand is normally at peak during the festive season but economic challenges have resulted in consumers slashing spending on luxuries.
Delta said in a trading update for the quarter ending December 2013 overall volumes remained flat pointing to the worsening of the liquidity crunch biting consumers.
“The country is witnessing a significant slowdown in consumer spending and economic activity. This was particularly pronounced in this quarter, the traditional holiday peak period,” it said.
“We report a total beverage volume for the quarter that is flat against the same period last year and up two percent for the nine months to 31 December 2013.”
The group, however, said the performance was in line with its expectations.
In category terms, lager beer volumes slumped a massive 25 percent while sparkling beverages, commonly referred to as soft drinks, declined six percent.
“This is mainly a result of retail price distortions triggered by the increase in excise duties of December 2012. We continue to engage the authorities on the adverse impact of the high taxes which drive consumer prices,” Delta said in reference to the lager decline.
However, on the up side were the traditional beer sold under the Chibuku brand and non-alcoholic traditional beverage, Maheu, which helped maintain the volumes balance after going up 18 percent and 23 percent respectively.
The beverages manufacturer said the growth in Chibuku brand was due to “a strong consumer acceptance for the category driven by the success of Chibuku Super.”
Chibuku Super is a cheaper alternative which costs $1.
Delta last year launched a new dairy beverage product called Super Sip which is also expected to contribute to increased revenue in the next quarter.
The continued decline in consumer spending due to economic challenges is among the factors slowly driving the economy into deflation.
Inflation currently stands at 0,33 percent as at December 2013 and is largely expected to continue going down into negative territory either by February or March. — Business Reporter/New Ziana.
derick.khumalo
Online Reporter