Leading brand Innocent racked up the highest absolute value gain of the top 10 – £13.9m – thanks to the growing popularity of its super smoothie range. It followed up the range with the introduction of 100% recyclable bottles in April, made using 50% recycled PET and 15% plant-based plastic.

Tropicana may have lost its top spot to Innocent last year, but it’s bouncing back. The brand accumulated an extra £7.7m on the back of an innovation drive.

New Tropicana products last year included two pure fruit juice flavours and the addition of an Immune Support SKU to its Essentials line. “Our ambition is to expand Tropicana beyond breakfast,” says brand manager Louise Hardman.

Health may be driving growth in juices, but J2O – up £ 3.5m – proves there’s still room in the chiller for other propositions. The brand reported its highest penetration since September 2017 at the end of last year, bolstered by its limited edition Glitterberry flavour and a £2m media campaign featuring Mojo the cockney alpaca.

Capri-Sun is pinning hopes of a return to growth on its new Cherry flavour, set to launch in March. The NPD could also serve to drive some much-needed incremental growth into the juice drinks sector, says Nielsen’s Laszlo Zsom. “Branded juices are being squeezed out of the shelf and are rapidly losing off-shelf promotional support.”

The juices & smoothies category grew 0.7% to £1.3bn this year, mainly driven by price increases as well as some new shoppers.
This growth has offset a volume decline of 2.4%, but the category still underperforms compared with total grocery, which saw 3% value growth over the same period.

Own label has been performing strongly across retailers, especially within not from concentrate. Sainsbury’s, Aldi, Lidl, Co-op, Waitrose and Morrisons have each seen double-digit growth in the sector. Morrisons has seen strongest growth of all retailers in this area, driven by x for y promotions attracting new shoppers, increased basket sizes and more frequent trips.

Promotions have been scaled back across juice, particularly volume deals. This has driven up average price in every sector apart from not from concentrate.

Within smoothies, promotional strategies differed between own label and brands this year. Promotions were cut across own label, whereas branded smoothies saw an increase in spend through temporary price reductions.

Rebecca Watterson,
 Kantar Worldpanel