ATLANTA -- The ups and downs of the beverage industry can keep a retailer guessing. Can bottled water and sports drinks maintain their current growth rates? Will beer and carbonated-soft-drink manufacturers be able to turn their categories around after a couple of weak years? Those questions aside, retailers seem to believe one relatively new category is destined for continued greatness: energy drinks.
According to a CSP Daily News poll, a healthy 39% of retailers believe energy drinks is the beverage category with the most sales-growth potential for 2006. [image-nocss] And convenience store retailers at the CSP Beverage Category Roundtable last weekin Atlanta agreed. Energy is the CSD of the future, said Russell Kidd, category manager of nonalcoholic beverages for Circle K Southeast, Charlotte, N.C.
Circle K launched a private-label energy drink 2005 and is seeing success with that in addition to name-brand beverages in the category. We introduced Joker about a year ago, and we've had great success with it, he said. In the latest ACNielsen data, it was ranked No. 13 in the country, and it's only in 2,200 stores.
As of October 30, 2005, the energy drink category had seen growth of more than 55% for the year, according to data from Information Resources Inc., Chicago. The top five brands in the category are Red Bull, Monster Energy, Rockstar, Coca-Cola's rookie Full Throttle and SoBe Adrenaline Rush. All five brands saw healthy growth in 2005.
For another chain based in the Southeast, energy drink growth has come at the fountain, where consumers can get a 64-oz. Rush Energy drink from Monarch Beverage Co. It has merited to stay on the fountain machine, and we also carry the same brand in our packaged [coolers], said the retailer. We brought it in as a value brand. The reality is, I don't think it is a value brand; I think consumers are buying regardless of the savings.
It is the widening acceptance of energy drinks that has this retailer, who asked not to be identified, feeling bullish about the category. I think energy is hot, she said. Teenagers are buying [because it's cool]. Adults are buying it for an energy kick. And I think it's going to continue to grow.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.