With the World Cup and Commonwealth Games both taking part this summer, there will be huge investment from leading soft drinks brands, while NPD continues to drive growth, along with shopper diversity and value.
With soft drinks shoppers spending £6.59, on average, per trip retailers better make sure their range is right. Research firm him! also points out that almost a fifth of all customers shop soft drinks and 8% of shoppers bought into the category on impulse. One of the biggest changes to the category of late was Coca-Cola Enterprises’ decision to replace two-litre bottles with 1.75 litre. Dave Turner, Trade Communications Manager at Coca-Cola Enterprises, says: “The 1.75 litre Coca-Cola range remains an important focus for convenience retailers as this format is ideal for consumers who are picking up their soft drink products from their local store for a summer evening ahead, particularly with sporting events such as the FIFA World Cup capturing people’s attention during the coming months.”
The company has also seen a huge 22% increase in Coke Zero sales over the last year, which Turner says is in part down to new pack designs and a media campaign that launched earlier this year. Another CCE development has been the launch of 250ml cans. Turner says, “Over five million cans were sold by the end of October last year and has already added more value to the soft drinks category than any other soft drink format in indies and symbols since the start of the year.
Where possible, we recommend retailers stock this alongside 330ml and 500ml Coke formats.” Elsewhere, CCE has launched a new mid-calorie special edition Raspberry and Passionfruit flavour Fanta to help retailers capitalise on the growing popularity of tropical flavours enjoyed by shoppers. In a first for Fanta, the new variant uses stevia to offer shoppers a new mid-calorie option. Fanta’s recent growth was supported by using rotational flavours to engage with new shoppers and consumers, offering a wider range of taste to appeal to more palates. This has contributed to overall brand growth across Fanta’s range (Fanta Orange, Zero, Fruit Twist and Lemon) and its special edition flavours (Mango and Passionfruit, Peach and Apricot and Red Fruits). While CCE concentrates on the World Cup, AG Barr’s attention is firmly focused on the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, in which it is investing £12m. The biggest aspect of this to date is the Cheer We Go promotions, which is Irn-Bru’s biggest ever “We are investing unprecedented levels of marketing support around Glasgow 2014 to allow us to work closer than ever before with our retail partners,” says Adrian Troy, AG Barr Head of Marketing. “However, the retail opportunity is not just for the 11 days of Glasgow 2014. Our marketing activity will enable retailers to use AG Barr brands on their soft drinks fixture for six months to engage shoppers and harness the excitement which is already building around this memorable sporting occasion.”
Away from this huge marketing initiative, AG Barr says that the three trends driving sales in soft drinks are growth in shopper diversity, continued shopper focus on value and growth in convenience. Troy says that AG Barr is tapping into these trends thanks to its portfolio offering choice, quality and value combined with innovation to meet the needs of the convenience sector. Illustrating this, he says, is the launch of Barr Xtra Cola. “The cola market in Scotland is worth an impressive £184m, with low calorie cola sales accounting for 57% of this and growing ahead of the market,” he says. “This fast-growing category represents a clear opportunity for retailers to maximise their profits.”
The launch will be supported by a heavyweight social media campaign throughout this month, to drive awareness and encourage trial of the product. Lucozade and Ribena may have changed hands recently with Suntory acquiring the brands from GSK, but the performance of both has progressed without effect. In Impulse, Lucozade Energy is growing at nearly twice the rate of the Energy and Stimulation sub-categories (+8.3% v +4% and +4.3% respectively). In Sport, by focusing on educating and proving the performance benefits of sports drinks to a grassroots audience, bringing NPD and PMPs to the market and category leading levels of Advertising investment, the makers of Lucozade have been able to turn-around the performance of the sport category, with Lucozade Sport Body Fuel growing at +6.3% YOY. “NPD is the lifeblood of the soft drinks category and drives new shoppers to the market,” says Georgina Thomas, Category Director, Lucozade Ribena Suntory. “22% of sports and energy sales within the Impulse Drink Now market have come from NPD launches last year. Lucozade has contributed to a large proportion of these sales through the launches of Lucozade Energy Melonade and Strawberry. Last year also saw Lucozade Energy Pink Lemonade becoming a part of the core range.”
Another sports and energy brand pushing NPD is Boost Drinks, which has recently launched three new flavours for the independent sector: Sugar Free Pink Lemonade, Citrus Zing and Exotic Fruits. The new products come in 250ml 49p PMP cans and 500ml 79p PMP PET bottles. Original and Sugar Free Boost are now available in new plain or 49p PMP 250 ml cans, and plain or 79p PMP 500ml PET bottles; and there is also a limited edition promotional 1litre PET bottle, price-marked at £1. All prices are promotional offers for the launch period. Boost has invested heavily in both trade and consumer research over the last nine months, giving the brand that champions the independent sector some vital insight and evidence to help direct its investment programme and proving that the brand has great traction.
JuiceBurst has big plans for 2014
In 2014, JuiceBurst will be upgrading its range with new and improved formulations and packaging, as well as launching exciting NPDs (currently under development). For retailers looking to extend their juice offering, the most successful JuiceBurst products in 2013 came from the 500ml core range. Specifically, the Orange & Carrot variant has seen the most success, having a consistently strong following and outperforming the market leader in blind taste tests. In addition, consumers are showing increased interest in the more unusual flavours, such as Blood Orange, Orange & Carrot, Blackcurrant and Mango.
Shloer set for summer
During this year, Shloer Red Grape and White Grape variants are once again being made available in £1.69 price-marked bottles exclusively for the convenience sectors. The promotional stock can be easily identified in wholesale by the “Buy £6.29. Sell £1.69. POR 25.6%” recommended price marked pack flashes featured on the carton designs. This is also the first summer that Shloer Celebration Pink Fizz and Celebration White Bubbly – Shloer’s two new premium ‘celebration’ style soft drink lines – will be available. Amanda Grabham, SHS Drinks Marketing Director says: “Now is an ideal time for retailers to spring clean their soft drinks range for the summer season, ensuring they include adult soft drinks.”
BevTrac boosts on-the-go sales
Last year Coca-Cola Enterprises launched a spring-loaded shelf management system designed to drive on-the-go soft drinks sales. Naming the system BevTrac, CCE is making strong progress with its initial plan targeting over 3,000 UK convenience retailers. Following research into how convenience retailers buy on-the-go soft drinks and how they interact with the impulse chilled fixture, the system has been designed to offer retailers a range of benefits including:
- Improving ease of shop and availability to shoppers by helping product lanes always ‘look full’ due to spring-loaded ‘pusher’ action
- Signposting brands to the shopper, making products easier for them to see, select and purchase
- Helping to improve and maintain the key merchandising principles CCE has previously identified that make it easier for shoppers to buy soft drinks on-the-go
- Increasing product standout by using sector and brand-specific POS and labelling to further improve merchandising and maintaining visibility Q Easier to face up and re-stock by using spring loaded lanes to keep products in order
- Reducing frequency of product out of stocks by featuring call to action ‘POS’ prompting retailers to ‘re-stock’ when a lane is empty Dave Turner says: “The response from retailers has been very positive and we’ve already received some great feedback that demonstrates that the system has helped to deliver a strong uplift.”