NEW YORK -- The month of April did not produce for major beverage makers, as most saw dollar sales decline. As a result, sales growth in most beverage categories slowed from recent months.
"Volumes [were] soft for most categories, driven by Easter shift and pricing growth," Wells Fargo analyst Bonnie Herzog said in a research note.
Citing Nielsen all-channel data for the four-week period ending April 23, 2016, Herzog said Coca-Cola Co. saw dollar sales down -1.1%, PepsiCo flat at +0.3% (including beverages and snacks), Dr Pepper Snapple Group down -1.3% and Monster Beverage dollar sales +6.4%, sold growth but down from a 12-week trend of +7.5% and a 52-week trend of +8.5%.
Category Breakdown
The energy-drink category as a whole grew +3.9%, a dramatic change from an 8.9% 52-week average dollar growth.
That was better than Red Bull, however, which saw dollar sales decline -2.0% during the four-week period. Volume sales were down -3.0%.
Winners in the energy-drink category included Rockstar, whose dollar sales continue to grow by double digits, up +10.5% for the four weeks, and PepsiCo's energy/CSD hybrid Kickstart, which remained strong with +14.2% growth.
Total CSD (carbonated soft drinks) dollar sales in all channels were down -2.9% (-0.5% for 12 weeks; -0.1% for 52 weeks), driven by price growth of 3.3% and offset by unit volume declines of 5.9%.
Coca-Cola's CSD dollar sales were down -3.2% (-0.4% for 12 weeks) on -5.6% volume sales. Brand Coke (43% of Coca-Cola's CSD sales) had its worst month in a year, Herzog said, with dollar-sales declines of -3.2%.
PepsiCo's CSD dollar sales were soft, down -3.7% (-1.5% for 12 weeks) driven by a -7.3% decline in unit volume.
Dr Pepper Snapple Group's CSD dollar sales were down -2.0% (+0.1% for 12 weeks) as a result of volume declines of -5.2% during the four weeks.
Other category results during the period:
- Beer dollar sales up +1.5%.
- Bottled water dollar sales up +6.7%.
- Sports drinks dollar sales flat at +0.6%.
- Iced tea dollar sales up 5.0%.
- Refrigerated juice dollar sales down -1.4%.
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