Beverages Top C-Store Product Pacesetters

CHICAGO -- Eight of the 10 best-selling new products in convenience stores in 2017 were packaged beverages. This is the second year in a row that drinks have topped the annual list of 2017 New Product Pacesetters from sales-data researcher IRI.

Chicago-based IRI announced the list of last year’s most successful consumer packaged goods on April 16.

Thousands of new brands hit retail shelves during 2017, with 49% of the top-ranking brands hailing from small manufacturers—defined as those earning less than $1 billion annually—and accounting for 26% of Pacesetter dollars, IRI said. Overall, the top-selling 200 new brands captured cumulative year-one sales of more than $4.6 billion across IRI’s multioutlet geography.

Here's a look at the beverages among the top 10 new c-store products introduced in 2017 ...

Brand: Red Bull Green Edition

Rank: No. 1

Total year-one dollar sales: $110.7 million

Red Bull's Summer Edition Kiwi Twist was a successful limited-time offer (LTO) in summer 2016. The LTO returned as a permanent addition to the energy-drink line in 2017 as the Green Edition and topped more than $110 million in sales in convenience stores.

Brand: Lifewtr

Rank: No. 2

Total year-one dollar sales: $107.6 million

PepsiCo's Lifewtr is a new premium bottled water "that fuses creativity and design to serve as a source of inspiration, as well as hydration." It rolled out across the United States in February 2017.

Brand: Monster Mutant Super Soda

Rank: No. 3

Total year-one dollar sales: $42.3 million

Monster's Mutant Super Soda was its first proper entry into the carbonated soft drink category. With 115 milligrams of caffeine per 20-ounce bottle (vs. 180 milligrams in a 16-ounce Monster Energy), the green, citrus-flavored soda experienced months of out-of-stock issues, but still managed more than $42 million in sales in c-stores during 2017, according to IRI.

Brand: Mtn Dew Pitch Black

Rank: No. 5

Total year-one dollar sales: $38.6 million

Initially introduced as an LTO, PepsiCo's Mtn Dew Pitch Black was added to the permanent lineup of the company's portfolio through DEWcision 2016, which pitted the CSD against Mtn Dew Baja Blast. Mtn Dew Pitch Black has the flavor of Mountain Dew with a twist of citrus and a dark fruit flavor, the company said. It launched in September 2016.

Brand: Four Loko Gold                

Rank: No. 6

Total year-one dollar sales: $34.7 million

Four Loko Gold rolled out in early 2017 as a mystery flavor of the sweet, high-alcohol flavored-malt-beverage line from Phusion Projects, Chicago. Each 23.5-ounce can contains 14% alcohol by volume.

Brand: Mtn Dew Black Label

Rank: No. 7

Total year-one dollar sales: $32.8 million

Mtn Dew Black Label is a "deeper, darker Dew" that was first introduced at colleges and universities. A carbonated soft drink made with real sugar and "crafted with dark berry flavor and herbal bitters," Mtn Dew Black Label is made for those times when Dew drinkers want to unwind with a touch of class, the company said.

Brand: Sprite Tropical Mix

Rank: No. 8

Total year-one dollar sales: $32.5 million

Coca-Cola Co. brought back its Sprite Tropical Mix in mid-2016. It was first available more than a decade earlier, combining strawberry and pineapple flavors. The limited-time relaunch came in a retro-inspired orange-on-white package design.

Brand: Pepsi Cherry Vanilla

Rank: No. 10

Total year-one dollar sales: $23.4 million

This cherry and vanilla-flavored Pepsi cola was first released as an LTO in May 2010 for the summer. It was reintroduced for Valentine's Day 2016 and topped $23 million in c-stores sales in 2017.

Click here to see the complete Top 10. And click here to read more from IRI's Pacesetters report.