Functional drinks driving UK soft drinks market
Stimulant or energy drinks continued to drive the category forward, led by Coca-Cola Enterprises’ Relentless brand, which saw revenues leap by 110% to £ 40 m as it extended into the energy with juice category and expanded distribution. Leading energy drink brand Red Bull added £ 12.5 m in new sales to reach £ 178 m, so Relentless still has some way to go to catch it up, but it has become its most credible rival. With sales up 4% to £ 228 m, the Lucozade range remained overall leader in the sub category.
Sports drinks, which are treated by Britvic as separate to glucose and stimulant drinks, also performed well, with sales up 7% in 2008 to £ 166 m. New entrant Gatorade and existing brands Lucozade Sport and Powerade all grew strongly, but the highest growth was from private-label at 33%, although from a much smaller base.
The cholesterol-lowering Benecol was among the fastest growing products in the dairy drink sub-category and it turned around a disappointing performance the year before. Functional waters fared less well, but new entrants V Water and Vitaminwater both saw sales leap thanks to investment from their brand owners, in contrast to Volvic Revive, which lost half of its value.
To get up-to-date with the latest trends and market outlook for the functional drinks sector, visit the Functional and Healthy Drinks conference which takes place in London on 28-29 April 2009. For more information visit www.agra-net.com/functionaldrinks.
