In summer, retailers rightly expect a rise in the sale of soft drinks, but it doesn’t just happen on its own, so as the warmer weather really makes itself felt, we take a look at how you can ensure you’re making of the most of the sales opportunity.
by Kevin Scott
Getting your core range right is the most important rule that retailers should follow in soft drinks. After that, it’s all about keeping drinks cold. Before the chillers are even switched on there is a clear core range on which retailers should ensure they are getting right: colas, flavoured carbonates, energy drinks, juices and juice drinks and waters should be the core components of any store’s soft drinks category. Dave Turner, Trade Communications Manager, Coca-Cola Enterprises, says: “By stocking a large proportion of the best-selling brands and merchandising them in the right way, 2013 is a year when wholesalers and retailers can really aim to drive rate of sale across their soft drinks range.”
At AG Barr, the company says that retailers must ensure they are responding to shopper trends in the wider market, in order to attract customers. According to the company – whose plans to merge with Britvic recently fell through – a key trend for 2013 is ‘Living better for less’ and shoppers are becoming increasingly professional in their approach to shopping – making their money go further, planning their shop and broadening their store choice.
Adrian Troy, Head of Marketing, comments: “The key to successful NPD, however, is whether consumers will buy again after trial and this is governed simply by how much they enjoy the product. Tapping into consumer trends and carrying out consumer taste tests before launch can help with this.”
Britvic says that shoppers in 2012 sought lower entry price points to keep within a weekly fixed shopping budget which contributed to a slight soft drinks volume decline of 0.8% within the grocery, convenience and impulse market. The Impulse channel, only marginally behind Grocery, witnessed steady value growth of 1.6%, driven by segments such as glucose stimulant drinks. Nigel Paine, Commercial Director – Impulse at Britvic says: “Although consumers continued their cautious spending habits, soft drinks remained one of the most popular categories, faring considerably better than the declines seen in many other FMCG categories during 2012.”
With the category one of the busiest in grocery, there is much to keep on top of within soft drinks and over the next couple of pages, you can find out what the big brands are up to.
Backing big brands
AG Barr is continuing to back its brands with a profit-boosting combination of innovative trade and consumer marketing support, NPD and promotions, driving consumer awareness and demand for many of Scotland’s best-loved soft drinks brands. The company is advising retailers to give plenty of prominence to the Other Flavoured Carbonates category, in particular Irn-Bru. The company recommends that retailers use Irn-Bru’s strong-performing 250ml, 330ml, 500ml and 750ml formats as beacon brands on the fixture as they will attract consumers to the fixture.
Top tips from Britvic
Ranging
- It’s important to regularly engage with the shoppers coming into your store to find out what brands they want and in what format and stock in accordance to this
- Stocking a broad base of soft drinks is important, including carbonates, juices, stills and waters. Offering just cola would only meet 40% of customers’ needs. Instead, offer cola, water, a juice drink, flavoured carbonates and energy drinks and you’ll keep 80% of customers happy – and boost your profit potential
- Although the majority of sales will be in 500/600ml PET bottles and 330ml cans, stocking a range of deferred (drink-later) formats, such as two litre colas, caters for consumers that want to host a social occasion at home.
Merchandising
Group sub-categories together to make it easier for shoppers to find what they are looking for i.e. Carbonates all together and Energy Drinks together
- 49% of people don’t see soft drinks when they are in a convenience store, therefore it helps to have the main chiller in a high traffic area, as 56% of shoppers buy soft drinks when they do see the fixture
- 86% of consumers say that they want their soft drinks to be chilled, with 53% going as far as saying they’d pay more for a soft drink if it was cold. As the majority of soft drinks are drunk immediately after purchase in Impulse, it makes sense to keep them chilled.
- 38% of lost sales are due to poor availability, so where possible, shelves should be fully stocked at all time.
Slim and slender
This summer CCE introduced a slimline 250ml can format across Coca-Cola, Diet Coke and Coke Zero to drive sales of soft drinks in on-the-go environments. The 250ml format comes in a plain can or a 45p price marked pack. The new packs will provide retailers with an incremental sales opportunity in the convenience channel, further demonstrating CCE’s commitment to providing specific formats to its customers that address evolving consumer needs. The pack, which features a new music design logo, will also be the first pack to carry the Spotify logo, as part of Coke’s global partnership with music provider Spotify.
CCE recommends convenience store owners with space in their fixtures stock the new 250ml range alongside 330ml and 500ml Coca-Cola formats, as trials demonstrated a 26% uplift in IC Coke volume when all three formats were stocked together.
Say my name
Coca-Cola’s high profile Share a Coke promo has captured the attention of the nation this year and a summer-long, personalised experiential tour kicked off at the start of July in Inverness. People can log onto www.shareacoke.co.uk to find out their closest scheduled stop from more than 70 city stops across Great Britain.
The campaign has already been well received with more than 120,000 tweets to date from engaged consumers, who have found or received their ‘special’ bottle.
Flash your assets
Retailers may have noticed that ‘20% Bigger flashes’ now features on 600ml zero bottle range for 2013, following consumer research which revealed that ‘20% Bigger’ was a simple and clear way to communicate a larger bottle-size message . The new flash features on all 600ml bottles of Pepsi Max, Diet Pepsi, 7UP Free and Tango and has been designed to better communicate the size and value that these bigger bottles present shoppers. Available in impulse and on-the-go grocery, the 600ml packs will be supported by the ‘Size Does Matter’ marketing campaign on outdoor posters and through highly visible point of sale in-store.
Conserving energy
The energy sector continues to offer a strong sales opportunity for wholesalers and retailers and is growing at 8%. In Impulse, energy is growing dynamically and is now worth £465m. As part of that, CCE’s energy portfolio (Relentless and Monster) is worth £70.5m in impulse. CCE is launching a 250ml can format of Relentless Origin. With a competitive rrp of 79p, the pack is designed to make branded energy drinks that are either under a £1 price point or that come in a 250ml format more easily accessible for consumers. CCE has also launched Relentless Lemon Ice – a sparkling energy lemonade drink. And, to further support convenience retailers and drive trial of the brand, CCE will also be making available a new £1 PMP on 500ml cans of Relentless Origin, Apple & Kiwi, Lemon Ice and Sugar Free, available in wholesale at certain promotional periods throughout the year.
Adult options
Continuing J2O’s on-going flavour innovation programme, the latest limited edition from Britvic is J2O Pear Gold, which taps into the current popualrity of cider. The drinks firm says that the new line is aimed at those consumers with a “more sophisticated palate”. This 2013 summer limited edition is a combination of pear and guava, offering consumers a soft drink alternative to cider. The limitied edition will be supported by bespoke outlet activity later in the year.
Wholesale Formats
Responding to stock limitation and cash flow management challenges that independent retailers face, Britvic recently launched smaller case sizes for J2O, Pepsi and 7UP 5-600ml. Moving from 24-count, these are now all available in 12-count cases enabling retailers to purchase a significantly wider range of flavours in order to extend the choice they offer shoppers.
Get drenched this summer
Britvic is getting ready to ‘Drench Britain’ with a new summer campaign from Juicy Drench. The multi-million investment includes experiential sampling and an on-pack promotion. All Juicy Drench communications for 2013 will further highlight the refreshing taste credentials of the brand, as well as driving awareness and penetration.
Juicy Drench will be sampling the product as part of a nationwide experiential campaign. Juicy Drench will also be sampled directly with independent retailers in depot.
Driving trial in convenience will be a key focus and the brand will be running exclusive price promotions and sampling for the impulse channel.
Juicy Drench includes naturally-sourced Stevia extract and is available in 440ml PET bottles. Juicy Drench’s variants include Orange & Passionfruit, Cranberry & Raspberry and Blackcurrant & Apple. The rrp for Juicy Drench is £1.09 and comes in a pack size of 12s and 24s. Price-marked-packs are also available at 99p.
Tropicana halves calories to boost sales
Tropicana has high hopes for its recently launched Trop50, a fruit juice drink with just half the calories and half the sugar of regular juice. Following its launch in the US, where Trop50 has driven volume growth to the juice category. The brand launched earlier in the year in the UK, and is currently enjoyed the fruits of its first summersd sales period.
Trop50 is available in a range of flavours, that our research shows consumers will love – Orange Smooth and Orange and Mango, which are must stocks for independent retailers in on–the-go formats (330ml). Additional flavours including Orange with Juicy Bits, Apple and Pomegranate and Blueberry are also available in take home size (one-litre), and retailers are advised to include both sizes in their chiller, next to juice drinks.
Great add-ons
While it has proved difficult to shift in many c-stores, the flavoured waters segment is growing well overall at +4.8%. Glacéau Vitaminwater is growing at 3.9% in Impulse, driven by an increasing desire from consumers for brands with functional benefits that also deliver on taste. This winter, Glacéau Vitaminwater has enjoyed a makeover with the introduction of a reformulated range. All variants now contain a new stevia-based and naturally sourced sweetener and will still be made with spring water, all natural flavours and no artificial colours. Furthermore, a new citrus-guava flavour, Sunshine, is set to launch.
JuiceBurst aims for the lunchbox
JuiceBurst has launched a range of 250ml bottles in Orange, Apple and Apple & Blackcurrant flavours.
The new variants follow the same format as the recently redesigned 500ml bottles, and contain 100% pure fruit juice which means they are fully schools approved. This, along with its convenient size, makes the range perfect for lunchboxes and on-the-go refreshment.
Targeted at food service outlets and schools, all packs are fully loaded with digitally interactive Blippar technology, giving a new experience for kids and adults when enjoying JuiceBurst.
Pack size reductions
Heads certainly turned when Coca-Cola Enterprises introduced a smaller large sharing format. According to CCE, the 1.75L pack size (rrp £1.79) on Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Cherry Coke and Vanilla Coke has been introduced for retailers to capitalise on shoppers making a single bottle mission to their local convenience store.
The pack itself comes in the familiar contour-shaped bottle to deliver increased in-store stand out. The decision to introduce the pack format was based on insight into how shoppers buy take home formats of cola in the convenience channel.
Keep it cold
AG Barr is urging retailers not to under-estimate the importance of chilling soft drinks. In Scotland’s impulse channel, ‘Drink Now’ sales represent more than three quarters of all soft drinks sales, with take home accounting for 23%.
“Consumers expect their ‘Drink Now’ products to be chilled, so the majority of the ambient sales will be for consumption at home,” says AG Barr’s Head of Marketing, Adrian Troy. “Take home products remain hugely important to convenience stores, as they are higher value items which encourage footfall and loyalty.”
