Anheuser-Busch Offers Distributors Big Incentives To Keep Bud Light In Stock

Used to be Bud Light owned retail shelves in the US. But with its declining sales in the wake of its partnership with Trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney those shelves are opening up and Anheuser-Busch making big dollar moves to make sure it stays visible.

Here’s the deal…

These are polarizing times and Bud Light remains in a tailspin following its brief, but ultimately costly, partnership with Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender influencer whose image was put on a Bud Light beer can to celebrate the activist’s “365 Days of Girlhood.”

The initial Dylan Mulvaney announcement took place on April 1 (ironically April Fool’s Day) and in spite of Anheuser-Busch’s many effort to put the matter to bed the brand has been experiencing serious sales declines ever since then.

“Bud Light is still just stubbornly down around 30% in volume compared to last year,” Beer Business Daily publisher Harry Schuhmacher  told Fox News Digital Friday. “That tells me that this is quasi-permanent, meaning those consumers are just lost forever.”

And as we head into fall, Bud Light’s once dominant positioning at retail is in trouble.

Wholesalers and industry experts told ABC News on Friday that Bud Light could lose valuable refrigerator space at retailers such as Walmart and 7-Eleven.

“During a busy shopping period on a Friday or Saturday night, if you don’t have the beer available cold on the shelf, consumers pick something else,” former Anheuser-Busch InBev executive Anson Frericks told ABC News and shelf space is “the single largest determinant of sales in a store.”

To stem the bleeding Anheuser-Busch is offering distributors a mix of incentives to keep Bud Light visible and viable, The New York Post reports.

The embattled brewer is offering as much $150 million in relief this year alone, which includes reimbursements to distributors for certain freight and fuel surcharges and giving them an extra five days to pay their bills according to Beer Marketer’s Insights.

“We’ve never seen anything like this in the beer industry,” Beer Business Daily’s Harry Schuhmacher added.

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