FRUIT juice sales in Britain have been up and down in recent years and the most recent edition of the British Soft Drinks Association’s Soft Drinks Report – from 2013 – showed that 2012 had proved tough for juice.
According to the BSDA report, fruit juice and smoothies were down by 4.9% by volume in 2012. People were drinking less, an average of 17.6 litres a year. That amount has fluctuated from year to year but the overall trend is down, from a high of 20.2 litres a year in 2007. However, given the category’s £1.9bn sales value, it’s still big business. And it’s especially important to stores that have a high proportion of young families in their catchment areas – juice is consumed in 85% of households at some point over a year and children are by far the biggest fruit juice swiggers, more than three times more likely to drink it than women and almost four times more than likely than men.
Within the category premium products are said to be gaining market share, with chilled juices, especially not-from-concentrate varieties, outperforming ambient lines.
Smoothies have also shown up-and-down sales. After a couple of good years they dipped in 2009 and have been recovering slowly to regain their 2006 volume.
Still and juice drinks, a more diverse category, fell in volume by 6%, giving a per capita consumption of 22 litres. Value rose, to £1.8m, largely as a result of price rises, said the BSDA report.
Low-calorie ranges now account for 42% of sales.
• Breakfast and lunch-on-the-go, meal deals and packed lunches are all juice-selling opportunities, according to Tropicana brand owner Pepsico.
“Lunchbox continues to present a key sales opportunity for retailers as the key meal occasion outside of home,” Matt Goddard, head of impulse field sales at PepsiCo, said.
“Some 53% of lunches now also feature a soft drink, with 54% of all out-of-home pure juice occasions being with a sandwich according to Kantar Worldpanel, indicating the scale of opportunity for juice. The number one barrier to purchasing a meal deal is lack of awareness, so it is important to use POS to highlight these deals in-store,” he said.
• A tie-in with the family film Turbo helped Sunmagic to a great year in 2013. The brand owner says sales were up 15% year on year and Sunmagic outperformed the total juice, juice drink and smoothie category, which grew at 2%.
