Sales of soft drinks in convenience retailers surged by 14.1% throughout last year, delivering the highest value growth of any food and drink category for 2022.
According to Britvic’s Soft Drinks Review 2023 – who’s products are now worth over £2.8 billion to the convenience channel – the boost in soft drinks sales put an extra £347.4 million through tills compared to the year before.
An extra 67.9 million litres of soft drinks were shifted, and as a result, sales of popular branded drinks beat the combined growth of beer, wine, spirits, confectionery, crisps, snacks and nuts.
Energy drinks were the largest performer last year, responsible for a huge £96.9m (28%) of the category’s £347.4m growth.
This was followed by cola, which added £70 million, while sales of plain water surged by 39.4% to £250.3 million due to the heatwave last summer.
Additionally, Pepsi MAX’s trio of flavoured colas – Cherry, Raspberry and Lime – grew by £6.3m (+16.9%) in 2022, delivering more growth for convenience retailers than all other flavoured colas combined.
The news comes as earlier this month, Britvic unveiled an £8 million project to improve energy efficiency and cut carbon emissions by 50% at its London factory.
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The British drinks manufacturer’s annual review also unearthed huge £400 million growth potential for the sector, equating to £8,400 for each of the nearly 48,000 convenience stores operating in the UK today.
However, with 52% of consumers saying that tighter budgets are making the convenience channel less attractive amid the cost-of-living crisis, where they’re shopping and what they’re drinking is changing.
“Our Britvic Soft Drinks Review shows that there is a growing demand for soft drinks consumed on the go,” GB retail commercial director at Britvic, Ben Parker said.
“Soft drinks featured in nearly one in four (22.9%) c-store shopping baskets last year, whereas all other impulse categories suffered purchase declines.
“The opportunity soft drinks is creating, when the right range is on offer, is hard to ignore and it’s important for retailers to make the most of the category, particularly during challenging times.
“Energy drinks and cola are flying high, and we’ve also seen that adding interesting, limited-edition flavours into the mix can pay big dividends in driving impulse sales when it comes to on-the-go formats.”
Parker added: “Our limited-edition Tango Berry Peachy Sugar Free, for example, was the number one launch of 2022 and helped to drive an incredible +49.3% growth for the Tango Sugar Free range.
“That’s more than twice the rate of growth achieved by the brand’s closest competitor, and we’re looking to repeat that success this year with the launch of Tango Paradise Punch Sugar Free as the next flavour in our rotational series,” he said.
