The winter World Cup makes this a festive trading period like no other. How can independent retailers capitalise on this?
“While Scotland may not have qualified, people will still be getting together to watch the World Cup. That’s often the way with international sport; it’s a reason for people to have a good time with friends and family.
“During the last World Cup, led by the colas segment, soft drinks sales grew in value by £71 million which is more than any other category1. Coca-Cola is the fans’ firm favourite – delivering almost four times more growth than its nearest competitor2. Our FIFA World Cup 2022 campaign – Believing is Magic – is live now, including an on-pack promotion giving shoppers the chance to win one of 10,000 limited-edition branded footballs.
“As well as getting behind our on-pack promotion, we recommend retailers cross-merchandise soft drinks with complementary categories like snacks, so shoppers can pick up everything they need for a World Cup gathering at home.
“Our recently-updated Refresh Tomorrow soft drinks category vision, which identifies opportunities to drive further sales growth within soft drinks over the next three years, includes taking full advantage of social occasions like the World Cup and Christmas as being key to driving growth.”
And before we know it, it’ll be Christmas. What role do you see soft drinks playing this year, and what can retailers do to make the most of the opportunity?
“The soft drinks category was worth a massive £809m in retail in December 20213, up 8.7% on the year before4 and was the second biggest growth driver year-on-year5 across all of food and drink categories. Colas, mixers, lemonade and adult soft drinks overtrade6 during the festive period compared with the rest of the year, so our advice is to stock up on sharing packs of GB’s best-loved brands including Coca-Cola Zero Sugar 1.75lt bottles and 1lt bottles of Schweppes Indian or Slimline Tonic.
“Coca-Cola is the biggest soft drinks brand in GB7 – with Coca-Cola Zero Sugar growing the fastest in retail8 – and is a festive staple thanks to its iconic Christmas advertising and Coca-Cola Truck Tour. After all, Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without them! And for this year the nationwide tour will put spotlight on local community, supporting FareShare, the UK’s biggest charity fighting hunger and food waste.
“This year, we’re also running a brand new on-pack promotion across festive-themed sharing packs of Coca-Cola Original Taste, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar and for the first time Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Cherry, to help shoppers cover the cost of special festive mealtimes, with 1,000 £200 retail gift cards and other exclusive Coca-Cola gifts.”
The rising cost of living is dominating the news agenda – and looks set to do so for some time. How can retailers best support their customers at the moment?
“Our festive on-pack promotion will play a very small part in helping shoppers this winter and presents an opportunity for retailers to support their shoppers, as well as drive their own sales. Many consumers are understandably focussed on creating special moments and experiences at home to save money so sharing formats of soft drinks are a great way to cater for these occasions – and across our portfolio (large PET bottles and multipack cans), they continue to grow9.
“We’ve seen from previous times of financial uncertainty that when people cut back on bigger spending, they continue to treat themselves with at-home occasions and affordable treats and soft drinks fall within this. This is supported by the fact soft drinks is currently he second fasting growing category within retail10.
“Price-marked packs are another useful tool in this context. They account for more than 69% of total soft drink sales in convenience11, and can be an effective way to deliver visible value to shoppers – as well as giving convenience retailers a point of difference versus larger stores.”
Despite ongoing economic concerns, do you see brands’ sustainability credentials and the desire to live responsibly continuing to affect purchasing decisions in convenience stores?
“Absolutely, even in the face of increasing costs, shoppers have views on sustainability. Young people in particular have indicated that they will buy products with sustainable packaging regardless of cost12 and 81% of soft drink shoppers say they always recycle their packaging13.
“Earlier this year, in partnership with Coca-Cola GB, we became the first major soft drinks provider in GB to introduce attached caps to 1.5L and 500ml plastic bottles that stay connected to the bottle after it’s opened, which will help improve recycling rates and prevent waste. The aim is to implement across all Coca-Cola brands and pack sizes by the end of 2024. Our entire range of plastic bottles and cans is already 100% recyclable, and all 500ml and smaller bottles sold in GB are made from 100% recycled plastic (excluding labels and caps).
“Sustainability will remain high on our agenda throughout 2023 and beyond – and together with retailers, we’ll be engaging and educating shoppers, so they can make informed purchases that align with their values.”
- Nielsen World Cup 2018 Grocery Mults 4 w/e 14 Jul 18 vs LY
- Nielsen Scantrack 5 w/e 14/07/18 vs 5 w/e 09/06/18, Total GB, Values Sales (£)
- Nielsen, Total Soft Drinks, Total GB incl. Discounters, 4 w/e 01.01.2022
- Nielsen, Total Soft Drinks, Total GB incl. Discounters, 4 w/e 01.01.2022
- Nielsen, Total Soft Drinks, Total GB incl. Discounters, 4 w/e 01.01.202
- Nielsen, Total Soft Drinks, Total GB incl. Discounters, 4 w/e 01.01.2022
- Nielsen Total GB incl. discounters, val MAT w/e 08.10.22 (Pepsi TM £782m / Coca-Cola TM £1.695bn)
- Nielsen Total GB incl. discounters, val MAT w/e 08.10.22
- Nielsen Total GB incl. discounters, val MAT w/e 08.10.22
- Nielsen Total GB incl. discounters, val & ytd value growth MAT w/e 08.10.22
- Lumina Intelligence, CTP 8we 09/01/2022
- Lumina Intelligence survey 2022
- CCEP PDH survey H2 2021 10,000 shoppers
