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Who: Marks & Spencer

What: Summer of Flavour Still Blackcurrant & Hibiscus Lemonade

Where: Chilled drinks fixture

When: Launched summer 2014

How much: £1/500ml

Why: With many consumers looking to reduce their alcohol intake, there is a big opportunity for the further development of sophisticated soft drinks. In place of classic soft drink flavours come products offering more subtle tastes, including the increasingly popular elderflower, along with coconut and cucumber, while blackcurrant is another flavour currently popular with consumers and drink developers.

Consumer verdict: Two thirds of our testers felt the brightly coloured, eyecatching bottle would stand out on shelf. Served chilled, this drink was generally well liked, with many respondents appreciating the light, refreshing qualities and unusual flavour combination. Described as a “quality” product, it achieved above-average scores across all key measures. Nearly a third of testers claimed they would buy this regularly as part of the M&S meal deal or as a midweek drink.

Pre-trial purchase: 44%

Post-trial purchase: 48%

Better than what’s out there: 54%

New and different: 89%

Overall score: 41/50

What is Fast Foodfax?

It is a subscriber service that has been running for more than 30 years, offering consumer assessments of new products and allowing comparisons with more than 17,000 products from our database. It is objective, impartial and totally independent, and each product is assessed using original consumer feedback from respondents across the UK. See here for further information.

Fast Foodfax is prepared by Cambridge Market Research , which works closely with The Grocer magazine on a variety of projects including the consumer judging element of the The Grocer’s Own-label Food & Drink Awards and New Product Awards. 

Tel. 01223 492 050 Email: Info@CambridgeMR.com