Summer continues to be the most important season for soft drinks and is now worth £903 million in value sales [1]. As consumers look for a variety of soft drink options to both take home and enjoy while on-the-go, here are some of the biggest opportunities for you to tap into:
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Consumers are looking for soft drinks options that provide hydration but also allow them to make healthier lifestyle choices. Bottled water plays an important role here. Last year, plain water became the fastest growing category in convenience, with sales surging by 39.4% to £250.3m[2]. Water plus (flavoured or fortified water) also grew by 25.9% to £120.6m[3]. Stocking brands such as Aqua Libra’s range of sparkling water, infused with a variety of flavours, will ensure that you offer consumers something different to quench their thirst.
Consumers are well and truly back on-the-go and with that comes a need to stay energised. Energy drinks delivered most growth for convenience retailers in 2022 and interestingly, the £96.9m growth[4] was achieved despite only 8% of shoppers currently buying them in convenience.[5] This means that there is still significant room for growth and offering a wide range of energy drinks, such as Rockstar Energy, will attract more people to the category.
Consumers are looking for drinks that provide them with refreshment. Cola, fruit carbonates and juiced drinks all showed double digit growth in the convenience channel last year and should be part of your offering. Adding interesting, limited-edition flavours into the mix can also drive impulse sales in the on-the- go market...
We are always launching new interesting and limited edition flavours, here are some of our best performing from 2022 [1]
Cherry, Mango and Lime – grew by £6.3m (+16.9%) in 2022, delivering more growth for convenience retailers than all other flavoured sugar free colas combined[6].
Tango is the fastest growing brand in Fruit Carbs, at 34% in the last year
was the number one fruit juice drink launch of 2022, helping to propel the brand’s RTD range to total sales of £8.1m
When it comes to stocking up your summer drinks, ensure that you prioritise chiller space for drinks that shoppers like to consume cold. What’s more, if you have limited chiller space in store, consider moving lower value products to ambient shelves and prioritising higher margin drinks.
[1] IRI, Britvic Defined, EXT1 Convenience GB, Total Market, Value Growth % YA, 52wks To 22/01/23
[2] IRI, Convenience Britvic Defined, Soft Drinks Value, 52wks To 01/01/2023 vs. YA
[3] IRI, Convenience Britvic Defined, Soft Drinks Value, 52wks To 01/01/2023 vs. YA
[4] IRI, Convenience, Soft Drinks Value, 52wks To 01/01/2023 vs. YA
[5] Kantar, OOH Panel, Stimulants, Penetration 52w/e 19/03/2023
[6] IRI, Convenience, Total Cola Britvic Defined, Value, MAT 01/01/2023 vs YA
[7] IRI, Convenience, Britvic Defined Soft Drinks, Value, 52wks To 01/01/2023 vs. YA
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