A back to school display of soft drinks, snacks and sandwiches can encourage incremental sales and push up profits, says Maurice Newton, sales and marketing director at Perfectly Clear brand owner CBL Drinks.
And he recommends that smaller format bottles, popular with parents packing lunchboxes, should be placed in a prominent position.
But he stressed that packed lunches are not the only sales opportunity when the kids go back to school.
Newton said: “When it comes to after school beverages, children often opt for sweet, flavoursome drinks, but this often comes with added sugar content.
“In the evermore health conscious market this can cause problems for parents.
“A survey conducted by Perfectly Clear found that a massive 80% of consumers are now concerned about sugar content in drinks.”
Ad he pointed out that the 500ml bottle is the most popular Perfectly Clear flavoured water format at lunchtime.
• AG Barr is spending £2m to promote its new Rubicon Spring range of sparkling water with fruit juice.
Head of marketing Adrian Troy said: “Research highlighted an 18% growth in the number of carbonates shoppers who are also buying water and a 19% rise in the number who only buy water.
“For those wanting a healthier alternative to a fizzy drink or fruit drink, Rubicon has all of the low calorie and healthier benefits of spring water.
“And for those coming from water or flavoured water, it has a big hit of Rubicon flavour.”
• Quoting Nielsen research from March this year, Coca-Cola European Partners says Capri-Sun is the leading lunchbox juice drink brand.
Trade communications manager Amy Burgess said: “We have focused on innovation to ensure that we offer a variety of options as parents seek healthier lunchbox choices.
“The addition of the no calorie variant is enabling parents to supply their children with a low-sugar drink which still offers the flavours kids love.”
• Rising child numbers and the current focus on healthy drinks will increase demand for innovative products that children love, says GB Drinks.
At the launch of the company’s djuiced Fruitshakes, chef Gary Barnshaw said: “The fact that the number of young children is expected to rise by 9.4% over 2013 to 2019 presents a great opportunity for the category.”
To meet this challenge, GB Drinks has created djuiced Fruitshakes which it says is the UK’s first fruit shake.
• Purity Soft Drinks has launched a multipack of its schools approved range.
The pack of six 300ml bottles is available in three flavours, Orange, Apple and Apple and Blackcurrant, with an RRP of £3.00.
Marketing director Sarah Brooks said this offers parents value for money.
