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.
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