NEW YORK -- With a steady two-for-$3 offer in many stores across the country, the No. 3 energy-drink brand is showing some legs in a race that is often thought to be locked up by Red Bull and Monster.
Rockstar Energy owns 4.8% of the market, according to recent Nielsen sales data, but in the past three months has seen unit sales grow 23.4% in all channels of retail. (See chart below.)
"Rockstar continues to show strong sequential improvements in its results, generating an impressive 22.8% growth in dollar sales ... on 27.1% unit growth," Wells Fargo Securities reported this week, citing four-week data ending Aug. 8. Over the past year, Rockstar unit sales have grown 7.8%, according to the data.
While pricing has helped sales, new-product introductions—including Rockstar Roasted coffee drinks and Rockstar Freeze cocktail flavors—have caught consumer attention with eye-catching packaging and unique flavors.
The energy category overall had solid dollar sales during the four-week period, growing 10.5%, driven by strong results from Red Bull, which saw 9.1% growth in dollar sales (and +10.7% for 12 weeks), while Monster dollar sales improved 10.9% (+10% for 12 weeks), driven by overall 8.3% unit volume growth.
In other beverage categories:
- Carbonated soft drinks saw dollar sales grow 1% during the four-week period (-0.2% for 12 weeks), while unit volume decreased 3%. Coca-Cola CSD dollar sales were down 0.3% (+0.2% for 12 weeks), offset by a decline in unit volume of 5.1%. Pepsi CSD dollar sales were up 0.6% during the month (-1.6% for 12 weeks) with 3% unit volume declines. Dr Pepper Snapple Group dollar sales were up 2.4% during the period (+0.8% for 12 weeks), and unit volume declined 1.8%.
- Beer dollar sales in the four-week period were up a strong 4.5% (and +2.5% for 12 weeks) driven by unit growth of +1.9%. AB InBev dollar sales were up 1.6% (-0.5% for 12 weeks). MillerCoors dollar sales were up 1.6% (-0.7% for 12 weeks). Both saw generally flat volume sales. Constellation Brands (Corona) saw 19.5% sales growth (+14.9% for 12 weeks); Boston Beer had -2% sales growth; and Heineken sales were up +2.9%.
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