Not very long ago, carbonated soft drinks (CSDs) were the rage of a young Baby Boomer generation. Coke and Pepsi ruled the cold door, and life was good for convenience store retailers. But that day has passed, as the category has been flat—or even in decline—for several years, forcing retailers to reset coolers to capitalize…
Positive Outlook for Carbonated Beverages
Carbonated soft drink sales dipped in 2010, but are expected to show positive growth in 2011. “Because the economy is better and products like Coke Zero have done well with customers, we are predicting 2.3% growth in 2011 for carbonated beverages,” said Garima Goel Lal, senior consumer analyst for Mintel International. Overall sales of carbonated…
Strength in Numbers
Resilient, tough and tested. These are just a few of the words analysts and retailers alike used to describe the convenience store and petroleum industry over the past 12 months. With the economy suffering its most difficult period in some 80 years, convenience stores held up rather admirably considering how consumer confidence plunged and the…
Convenience Industry Holds Strong
When history looks back on 2009 it will not be generous. The U.S. economy was, and to a certain degree, remains locked in the worst economic recession since the Great Depression. Unemployment is high and the value of the dollar and consumer spending are at near-record lows. While this is bad, it could have been…
Brands, Promotions Benefit CSDs
Concern For CSDs 16 million fewer Americans are drinking sugary soft drinks today compared to six years ago (68% of adults versus 76%). 7.8 million switched to diet soft drinks. 24 million have moved to bottled water. 17 million are opting for energy drinks. 11 million have tried sports drinks. 16 percent of Americans are…
Soft Drinks
TOP PERFORMERS Pepsi Coca-Cola Mountain Dew (PepsiCo) HONORABLE MENTIONS Dr Pepper (Dr Pepper Snapple Group) Sprite (Coca-Cola Co.) Carbonated soft drink sales may be slowing a bit, but they still dominate convenience store coolers. Chalk it up to brand-loyal buyers or market saturation, but one thing is certain: This is a packaged beverage segment retailers…