Sweet sunshine and sparkling summer for soft drinks

Despite rising food inflation and the cost-of-living crisis bursting the spending bubble for many consumers, they still crave that sweet treat and fizzy fix in their lives.

Soft drinks remain a dominant force in the market with a high proportion of Northern Ireland consumers purchasing each year.

Challenging conditions in 2022 left the sector, like so many others, facing its own hurdles, but producers in the category have shown adaptability and resilience amidst rising costs, labour shortages and upheaval in the supply chain.

Soft drinks sales across the grocery, foodservice and licensed channels hit £19.2bn in 2022, a 25.6% year-on-year rise, worth an impressive £3.9bn at the tills, according to NielsenIQ. Compared to pre-pandemic sales, volume sales have grown by 6%, with discounters, convenience retailers and supermarkets all driving strong growth. 1

And with the heatwave across Northern Ireland at the end of May and into June, hopes will be high that a similar effect will occur for 2023 figures.

Another area of growth was the fruit carbonate drinks, which witnessed sales grow by 12.5% year-on-year in the total market.

Britvic retail commercial director, Ben Parker said flavour innovation is “crucial” in helping to keep consumers excited by soft drinks, particularly as they are dealing with the continued cost-of-living crisis.

“It’s important to offer new products from well-known brands to help maintain basket spend,” he added.

1 Grocery Mults, Impulse & Discounters, NielsenIQ RMS – Foodservice & Licensed CGA – 52 w/e 31/12/2022 v 52 w/e 31/12/2019

YOU CAN SEE OUR SPECIAL FEATURE ON SUMMER DRINKS 2023 IN THE NEXT ISSUE OF NEIGHBOURHOOD RETAILER, COMING SOON!