Retailers are seeing margins shrink on 48% of the top lines in key convenience categories, despite the rising costs faced by local shops.

Better Retailing analysed the 25 bestselling products in the beer, wine, snacks and cigarettes categories, comparing margins in 2024 to 2025, based on data from more than 10,000 stores.

How have beer margins changed in 2025?

While only 50% of top beer lines saw smaller margins, the scale of decreases far outweighs the benefit from margin increases on the remaining 50% of lines.

Among lines that saw margin increases, the average growth was less than three percentage points, with only three eclipsing five percentage points. The half whose margins fell dropped by an average of more than a quarter.

The biggest drop was on Stella Artois 4.6% 440ml can 10pk, the margin of which fell by half to 16%. Stella Artois 568ml four-pack remains by far the leader in the category in terms of average weekly profit, with the average shop making £20.83 profit on the line each week, a 66% rise.

How many wine lines have seen margins decrease?

Sixty-one per cent of the top wine lines had smaller margins in 2025 than 2024 as the category was affected by increases in alcohol duty.

Isla Negra Seashore Sauvignon Blanc 75cl experienced the biggest drop, from 34.4% to 19.9%.

The wine category overall saw its average margin remain flat, with only a small increase from 30.15% to 30.24%.

Despite this, the average store made £87.34 in profit on the top-25-selling wines, down from £94.23 in 2024.

Which crisps & snacks lines have seen the biggest margins drops?

The top-selling crisp-and-snack lines are making retailers £10 less profit each week compared with 2024, as 48% of the top 25 lines saw margins squeezed.

Nine lines (36%) saw profitability drop more than a quarter. Pringles took large hits to margins, with its Salt & Vinegar flavour seeing its margin slashed by more than half.

Three Doritos flavours had the joint-largest margin drop, each decreasing from 51.2% to 33.4%.

The results mean the top 25 made the average stockist £62.86 profit each week in 2024, but only £52 in 2025.

The one category where most products have increased margins

Cigarettes was the only key category in which margins for the vast majority of top-sellers increased, with 19 out of the 21 lines that appeared in 2024 and 2025’s bestseller lists experiencing increases.

Ketan Lakhani, of Jack In The Box in Stoney Gate, Leicestershire, agreed with the overall findings, stating falling margins were “making stores move focus to adding other high-margin categories to make their model work, things like coffee and food to go”.

He added: “Stores are becoming more dependent on cash-and-carry deals, and the retailer WhatsApp groups in which offers are shared are busier than ever.”

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