Take-home market

Health and naturalness drive value growth

The consumer trend towards better-for-you options resulted in a significant increase in still drinks’ share of the market from 2001 to 2006. In 2007, however, the trend started to rebalance as carbonates grew both value and volume market share. This was driven by the growth of premium-priced functional drinks such as Red Bull (up 23%), Lucozade Sport (up 15%) and Lucozade Energy (up 14%) – and by new cola packaging.

Changing consumer attitudes also appear to have slightly shifted the long-term trend in favour of diet or no-added-sugar variants. Fuelled by consumers concerned about their health and appearance, this trend was evident prior to 2006 in key sub-categories such as cola, squash and flavoured carbonates, as reported in last year’s Soft Drinks Report. But in the last three years, it has reversed slightly as consumers are taking a broader and more balanced view of health and wellbeing – it’s no longer just about avoiding sugar – and the quest for naturalness has led some to turn back to natural sugar rather than artificial sweeteners. As consumers seek healthier lifestyles (and redefine what they see as healthy) it’s the more natural, regular products (many now with reduced sugar content) that are set to gain increasing prominence – and command the strongest pricing.