Energy Drinks Gain on CSDs
SANTA MONICA, Calif. — How close are energy drinks to toppling carbonated soft drinks as the top dog of packaged-beverage dollar sales in convenience stores? About $1.8 billion, according to Nielsen scan data provided by Red Bull North America.
The data (see below) shows CSD sales rose 2.5%–the least of any major subcategory in the data—to $8.44 billion in sales in c-stores during the 52-week period ending June 13, while energy-drink sales increased 8.6% to $6.62 billion in sales. Compare that to the 52-week period ending Aug. 10, 2013, during which energy-drink sales in convenience stores hit $5.70 billion; that’s nearly a $1-billion increase over two years.
“Energy is the second-largest category in convenience (and) No. 1 out West,” John Showalter, director of business insights for Red Bull North America, told CSP Daily News. “For a number of years [energy drinks have] been providing the most growth contribution to package beverage.”
While bottled water, tea and coffee sales all grew at faster paces than energy drinks, energy’s total dollar sales–double that of No. 3 bottled water—make it the fastest-growing category overall.
The data shows beverage dollar sales in c-stores overall during the 52 weeks increased a healthy 6.0% to reach $25.71 billion.