Flavour - the key ingredient to driving energy drink sales

With energy being such a crowded market, there’s a job to be done to keep shoppers engaged and excited by the category – this is where flavour innovation can play a big role.

The soft drinks category is booming, putting an extra £347.4 million through tills in 2022¹. In fact, sports and energy drinks led the way, contributing the largest growth at £203 million (13.6%) with volumes surging by 7.8%².

From brand-new flavours and different and unique brands entering the category, the options available for shoppers are endless. It is of course important to stock the core favourites in your range, but where you can differentiate yourself is by stocking trend-led innovations that are going to get your customers excited and help you drive sales.

We know that energy drinks are an impulse-led category, with purchase decisions often made at the fixture. Recent statistics show that 50% of impulse shoppers don’t even have a specific brand or flavour in mind when entering a store³, so there’s a real opportunity to surprise and delight with new flavours to boost basket spend.

Research also shows that flavours are the top purchase motivator for Gen Z shoppers and that new flavours rank highest for influencing soft drink purchases for this demographic⁴. What we have found is limited editions can create that buzz in-store and keep younger consumers engaged with the tried and trusted brands they know will deliver on flavour innovation year after year.⁵

^{1 - IRI, Total Convenience, Total Soft Drinks, Value growth YoY, 52WE 01/01/2023}

^{2 - NielsenIQ RMS, Total Coverage, TSD Britvic Defined, MAT to 25/03/2023} 

^{3 - Shoppercentric Britvic Bespoke Immediate Consumption Research December 2021}

^{4 - Shoppercentric Britvic Bespoke Immediate Consumption Research, December 2021}

^{5 - Shoppercentric Britvic Bespoke Immediate Consumption Research, December 2021}