NEW YORK -- April showed signs of recovery for sales of carbonated soft drinks … unless you're a convenience-store retailer, that is.
Nielsen's scan data for all channels of retail shows CSD dollar sales grew 2.1% and volume sales rose a surprising 3.9% during the four-week period ending April 22. C-store dollar sales, however, were down 2.0% and volume down 4.4%, according to a Wells Fargo Securities report from analyst Bonnie Herzog.
Longer-term trends suggest c-store volume sales of CSDs are declining at an increasing rate, down 3.8% for the past 12 weeks and down 2.7% over the past year.
The subcategory in all channels, however, appears to be recovering, with volumes down just 1.6% over the past year, 1.4% over the past 12 weeks and up nearly 4% in the most recent four-week period.
"CSD sales [were] driven by promotional pricing, likely driven by Easter promos," Herzog said, citing an average price decline of 1.8% during the four-week period.
The trend is even worse for diet CSDs in c-stores. In all channels, diets saw volume grow 3.9% during the four-week period, while c-store volume dropped 6.7%.
Here's a look at how other beverage categories are performing ...