Wal-Mart to add more craft beer

The world's largest retailer is going to open up some more space on its shelves for craft beer, according to this short piece in Advertising Age.

Former Walmart CEO and current board member Lee Scott said he recently talked with a top Wal-Mart exec "who clearly is in line with the fact we've got to make more space, we have to have more representation on assortment," according to E.J. Schultz's story in Advertising Age. He made the remarks at a beer distributors' convention in Las Vegas.

"You can't take an area like beer where people are moving to craft and 'under-assort' yourself because the person who is buying craft beer and wants that assortment will drive to Kroger and pay the 15% more," Scott said. Individual store managers will make some decisions about what to stock and where, Schultz writes.

Craft beer has been a growing segment for years, with hundreds of new breweries wresting slices of the action from the market-leading mega-brands like Coors, Miller and Budweiser. Craft beer selections have grown at many grocers. Some have even started contract-brewing their own private labels, such as Harris Teeter's recently introduced Barrel Trolley.