Food delivery is taking the food and beverage (F&B) industry to new heights, that includes brewers. Heineken is a Dutch beer brand founded in 1864 when 22-year-old Gerard Adriaan Heineken purchased a brewery in Amsterdam. Today, it is one of the world’s largest and most recognizable beer brands, with its products sold in over 170 countries. As the No. 1 brewer in Europe [1], it is ramping up their results and furtherly gaining popularity thanks to delivery platforms. 

Food delivery can transform the beer industry in a number of ways. Primarily, it helps the brands to expand their consumer base. It provides greater convenience and availability for consumers, allowing them to enjoy their favourite brews without the need to visit a store. In addition, it increases sales by giving the opportunity to combine drinks with food items into a combo deal.

Heineken's revenue amounted to approximately 27 billion euros in 2021  [2]. As an iconic beer brand worldwide, it is leveraging the food delivery platforms to compete in the formidable US$610 billion beer market [3]. In this article, we conduct a Heineken European case study. By leveraging Dashmote’s Data Analytics SaaS platform, we analysed the presence and growth of the brand on food delivery platforms around Europe.

The prevalence of Heineken on European food delivery platforms

Heineken is available on a variety of food delivery platforms globally, such as Just Eat Takeaway, Uber Eats, and Deliveroo. The selection of Heineken beers offered varies depending on the restaurants and stores but generally includes Heineken Lager, Heineken 0.0 Non-Alcoholic, and Heineken Silver.

According to Dashmote’s data, surprisingly, Heineken, as a Dutch beer, does not have the highest penetration rate on Dutch delivery platforms. Remarkably, it is the most prevalent in Greece - up to 34.4% of all the digital storefronts (DSFs) in Greece sell Heineken beer. The Netherlands takes second place, with a Heineken penetration rate of 21.8%. This indicates that 1 in 5 of all DSFs on Dutch food delivery sells Heineken beer. This is followed closely by Italy (19.6%) and Switzerland (18.2%). As shown in the graph, 9 countries in Europe have a Heineken penetration rate above 10%, with a particularly strong presence in the south of Europe.

Besides its unique flavour profile and commitment to brewing quality beers, the brand is also known for its sponsorship of sporting events, including the UEFA Champions League and the Formula 1 Grand Prix. These marketing efforts further help the brand to raise awareness and boost its popularity even more in Europe. It is reasonable to believe that Heineken will keep conquering European food delivery. Compared to Coca-Cola, which has an average penetration rate of 50%, Heineken still has plenty of room and opportunities to grow in the European food delivery industry.

The fastest growing European regions for Heineken on food delivery

According to Dashmote’s data, most of the countries saw positive Q4 growth in DSFs listings of the brand. Belgium experienced the largest increase of 36.1%, yet its DSFs base for Heineken remained relatively small at 181 by the end of 2022. This is followed by the UK with a 23.1% growth and Germany with a 15.3% growth. Interestingly, Greece, with the highest penetration rate of 34.4%, was the only European country that saw a negative decrease in DSFs listings of 8.4% in Q4, 2022.

Dolf van den Brink, Heineken’s Chief Executive, said in a statement in October 2022 that they have seen signs of a slowdown in demand for its beer in some European markets after its third-quarter sales rose by less than expected [4]. This could be caused by the limited consumer purchasing power and beer consumption due to inflation. However, according to Dashmote’s data, we do see a fairly higher growth in some of its major markets, such as the UK and Germany. On a positive note, in the brand's 2023 forecast in August, they expected its operating profit would rise by a mid to high single-digit percentage [5].

The emerging category: Heineken 0.0

In January 2021, Heineken 0.0 launched a global campaign, "Cheers with no alcohol. Now you can", to tap into "Dry January" and the growing market for non-alcoholic drinks at social events. The non-alcoholic beer market amounts to US$36.75 billion in 2023 and is growing annually by 12.61% (CAGR 2023-2025) [6]. Heineken is a key player in this emerging market and shows strong ambition in growing non-alcoholic beers. In fact, 7% of total volume is low or non-alcohol, which is higher than the world’s largest brewer AB InBev (6%). 

According to Dashmote’s latest data, the UK has the highest Heineken 0.0 penetration rate of 3.62%. Since the penetration rate of Heineken is 6.9% in total, it indicates that more than half of the DSFs on British food delivery platforms also sell the non-alcoholic version of the beer. This is followed by the Netherlands with a Heineken 0.0 penetration rate of 2.81%, taking up to 1/10 of all the DSFs selling the brand's products. Greece (2.7%), Romania (1.3%), Spain (1.2%), and Ireland (1.1%) all had a Heineken 0.0 penetration rate above 1%.

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