Liquid gold
Britons guzzled their way through an astonishing 6.97bn litres of soft drinks last year. According to Britvic's Soft Drinks Review 2013, all that liquid equated to £7.21bn-worth of sales through grocery and impulse outlets. Impulse outlets accounted for nearly 25% of value sales (£1.78bn), up 1.6% on 2011, with 'glucose stimulant drinks' or energy drinks accounting for nearly 26% of value sales versus cola's 24%. But in volume terms, cola sales amounted to 303m litres versus energy drinks' 175m litres.
Energise sales
The UK's thirst for sports and energy drinks is seemingly unquenchable. According to Mintel, the market saw a rise in volume sales of more than 60% between 2007-12, reaching 578 million litres. And value wise, it was estimated at £1.2bn in 2012, which equates to a 64% increase between 2007-12. This is around 8% year-on-year, which Mintel puts down to consumers switching away from the more expensive on-trade channel to the less expensive at-home environment.
Focus on Soft Drinks: Big brand support
Coca-Cola and Red Bull are usually found at the top of most forecourt stores' soft drinks sales lists. Coca-Cola has been around for years and has stayed one step ahead of its competition through big marketing campaigns such as 'Holidays are coming' and massive sponsorships such as that of the recent London 2012 Olympics. There have been brand extensions such as Diet Coke and Coke Zero and various flavours but it is the original Coca-Cola that remains king.
Focus on Soft Drinks: Big softies
You don't want to take your eye off the soft drinks market. There's always something new to stock; the category's in growth; plus soft drinks represent more than 10% of sales in your typical forecourt convenience store (IGD).
Powering ahead
In forecourts, the sports and energy drink category is outperforming total soft drinks growing at 3.4% versus 2% meaning the category is worth £80.9m in forecourts alone. And as that data is from Synovate for just oil company-managed forecourts, it's probably far greater than that.
My Account
| Region | Diesel | LPG | Super UL | UL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East | 133.41 | 67.40 | 141.10 | 128.52 |
| East Midlands | 132.93 | 141.67 | 128.44 | |
| London | 133.05 | 65.90 | 142.23 | 128.80 |
| North East | 131.55 | 139.57 | 126.67 | |
| North West | 132.10 | 66.90 | 140.54 | 127.58 |
| Northern Ireland | 129.82 | 134.61 | 125.46 | |
| Scotland | 132.65 | 139.08 | 127.50 | |
| South East | 133.80 | 141.93 | 129.03 | |
| South West | 132.95 | 67.90 | 139.13 | 128.12 |
| Wales | 132.10 | 64.90 | 137.03 | 127.13 |
| West Midlands | 132.78 | 66.57 | 142.07 | 128.26 |
| Yorkshire & Humber | 131.99 | 63.90 | 141.14 | 127.34 |
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