Leading global research company, Nielsen, has become the first to launch a benchmarking program that measures liquor retail sales in New Zealand. Using scan data from seven of the country's largest traditional liquor retailers, Nielsen is now able to provide a total report on the market's industry performance.

The benefits of The Liquor Benchmark will be significant for both suppliers and retailers. For the first time, suppliers will be able to measure the performance of their product across the market, while retailers will be able to compare the performance of a product in their store against others.

"Up until this point, liquor suppliers have only been able to share their performance with each retailer individually because of commercial sensitivities - this meant they could not talk about their performance relative to the total market," said Geoff Smith, Commercial Development Director at Nielsen.

The data will also identify opportunities for growth for retailers and suppliers, including where improvements might need to be made to help a brand's in-store performance.

"The Benchmark is similar to the total sales read provided to supermarkets and convenience stores," Smith said. "Suppliers will now be able to bring proof points around price, ranging, distribution and promotions to retailer meetings, which will allow for collaboration that aims to drive growth."

So far, the feedback from retailers on The Liquor Benchmark has been positive. 

Grant Simpson, General Manager of The Bottle-O NZ said: "Tracking our metrics and matching them against the market as a whole allows us to identify and focus on the areas where we are succeeding and where we need to improve. The Benchmark will allow us to constantly strive to do better."