According to new research from IRI, the promotional giveaway ?the overall saving made by shoppers, which takes into account the volume sold on deal and the level of discount offered by the multiple retailers ?nbsp; fell by 1.1% on beers, wines and spirits this year.

It means that customers saw a discount of around 9.1% on beers, wines and spirits, between February and May 2017, compared with a 10.2% discount during the same period last year.

The discounts offered to consumers fell further in June, increasing prices by 1.8%, but steadied again in July at around 0.1%, the data found.

Champagne had previously been the category with the deepest discounts, but the savings on Champagne fell at the fastest rate of all the drinks categories, falling 4%. This took the discount applied to Champagnes to an average saving of 11.8% between February and May 2017, down from 15.9% over the same period last year.

This contrasted with promo on sparkling wines (including those on Prosecco) which were broadly flat over the year, with an average saving of 12.4%, notably higher than that of Champagne.

However, during July, the discount on both champagne and other sparkling wines rose by 2.2% and 2.6% respectively, making them the two booze categories giving the overall greatest savings to consumers.

Meanwhile, discounts on spirits also fell by around 0.6% in the 3 months to May 2017, compared to the previous year, bringing a total average saving of around 10.7%, down from 11.2% last year. Beer, larger and cider discounts also fell, from an average of 7.5% to 6.8%, representing the lowest discounts in the BWS aisles.

Earlier this wee the IRI published a report showing that levels of promotion across the grocery category had fallen to their lowest level in ten years, falling 25% in the last five years, and slashing ￡3.7 billion of discounts.

Co-author of the study Tim Eales, the strategic insight director for IRI, said retailers were moving away from the short-term benefits of multi-buys and price cuts that boosted footfall, replacing them with fewer promotions, "driven by a need for more promotional efficiency and effectiveness".

Last year, the then managing director of Centre Vinicole Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte (CV-CNF), Julie Campos, told db the prices of Champagne in UK supermarkets had been "suicidal"for producers, arguing that the deals in recent months were below-cost and unsustainable. At the time, Campos said that there was no way that Champagne priced at ?0 or lower in the UK was covering the cost of production.

(https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2017/08/champagne-promo-prices-rises-4/)