The functional juice shot category has grown at a compound annual growth rate of 47% over the past three years and is now worth £100m in annual retail sales value, according to new NIQ figures.
UK shoppers spent an additional £22.9m on juice shots in the past year, downing over 130 million shots and propelling total category value by 29.5% to £100.7m [NIQ 52 w/e 18 April 2026].
Buoyed by the success of challenger brands including Moju and Plenish, household penetration of juice shots has nearly doubled year on year to 6.8%. Meanwhile, the segment now accounts for £3 of every £5 of all incremental growth across total juices and smoothies.
The boom in demand was being driven by “a structural shift in how people approach their health and wellbeing”, said Moju CEO and co-founder Rich Goldsmith.
“Wellness is becoming something people want to integrate into everyday life, rather than trying to fix things reactively,” he said. “That’s driving demand for products that are convenient, effective and rooted in recognisable and trusted ingredients. The growth in functional juice shots is a clear expression of that change.”
Retailers had also played a key role in accelerating growth, according to Goldsmith. “As consumer demand has grown, we’ve seen greater investment in space and merchandising for functional shots,” he said. “This has helped shoppers navigate the category more easily and driven stronger awareness at shelf.”
It had been “particularly encouraging” to see retailers merchandise functional shots and coconut water in a separate fixture to regular juices and smoothies, Goldsmith said.
“We see this play through in the level of incrementality shots bring to the chilled juice category,” he added.
Moju volumes surge
Over the past 12 months, Moju has delivered more value than any other functional juice shot brand, adding £8.0m in value on volumes up 34.8% [NIQ].
Its growth was being driven by the recruitment of new shoppers through NPD, as well as improving RoS, Goldsmith said.
“We’re seeing strong recruitment into the category – with blends such as Honey Lemon and Hot Mango attracting new, shot curious shoppers – alongside increasing frequency as people build these products into daily health and wellbeing routines,” he said. “Formats like our dosing bottle have also played an important role, helping move functional shots from more reactive impulse purchases to consistent habits.
“We also expect the category to benefit from broader long-term consumer trends around more proactive wellbeing and demand for minimally processed products with clear functional health benefits.”
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