Adult soft drinks are increasingly finding their way into the shopping baskets of a core group of youthful players
Consumers know them as expensive, special treats, oblivious to the term adult soft drinks, which exists only within the confines of boardrooms and trade meetings.
Whatever they’re called, posh squash is finding its way into shopping baskets now more than ever. However, the sector remains youthful, led by just a handful of major players.
Mike Coppard, Shloer’s MD, identifies four profit hotspots: encouraging greater volume sales, convenience, increasing awareness and premiumisation.
Shloer has grown fivefold in as many years with an annual turnover of around £20m, yet as Coppard points out: “On average, people purchase adult soft drinks only four times a year because they see them as too expensive.”
At around £2 a bottle, they are pricey compared to carbonates, but represent a tiny proportion of overall shopping
budgets. To increase volume sales, Coppard believes manufacturers must work with the trade to educate consumers. “Five years ago, this was a tiny category, but after strong growth there is still confusion over where to put
the products. There may be two aisles of soft drinks, but we are usually tagged on to the end of fixtures.”
Large bottles are the leading format in a market that thrives on sharing occasions and at-home entertaining.
To encourage greater volume sales and enhance convenience, many players have launched cans for on-the-go consumption and Shloer has just redesigned the packaging of its two can variants to encourage greater appeal at grab-and-go fixtures.
The sector is coming of age as it moves into the next phase of convenience: the four-pack format. Appletiser’s multipacks, available from April, are marketed at 25 to 35-year-old women as being handbag-sized, and are supported by a £1.5m sponsorship of re-runs of the TV comedy Friends.
Shloer’s single-serve bottle four-pack, launched this month, will meet consumer demands for single-serve options.
Consumer research into the posh squash market reveals an association between bubbles and premium products, despite the criticism facing carbonates. Coppard explains: “When consumers have tried samples of Shloer without carbonation, they ask why they should pay more for what they see as an expensive squash.”
Standard-flavour combinations don’t meet the grade at this end of the market either, although overly exotic or unfamiliar ingredients can also be a turn-off.
Innovative new mixes, such as Belvoir’s mint and lime pressé or Bottlegreen Drinks’ wine-inspired Bon Grape low-sugar juice drink, offer consumers a sophisticated taste, which the suppliers claim merits premium pricing.
Peverel Manners, general manager of Belvoir, said: “Price is a major factor in adult soft drinks, as they are simply more expensive to produce with a greater juice content.”
Consumers know them as expensive, special treats, oblivious to the term adult soft drinks, which exists only within the confines of boardrooms and trade meetings.
Whatever they’re called, posh squash is finding its way into shopping baskets now more than ever. However, the sector remains youthful, led by just a handful of major players.
Mike Coppard, Shloer’s MD, identifies four profit hotspots: encouraging greater volume sales, convenience, increasing awareness and premiumisation.
Shloer has grown fivefold in as many years with an annual turnover of around £20m, yet as Coppard points out: “On average, people purchase adult soft drinks only four times a year because they see them as too expensive.”
At around £2 a bottle, they are pricey compared to carbonates, but represent a tiny proportion of overall shopping
budgets. To increase volume sales, Coppard believes manufacturers must work with the trade to educate consumers. “Five years ago, this was a tiny category, but after strong growth there is still confusion over where to put
the products. There may be two aisles of soft drinks, but we are usually tagged on to the end of fixtures.”
Large bottles are the leading format in a market that thrives on sharing occasions and at-home entertaining.
To encourage greater volume sales and enhance convenience, many players have launched cans for on-the-go consumption and Shloer has just redesigned the packaging of its two can variants to encourage greater appeal at grab-and-go fixtures.
The sector is coming of age as it moves into the next phase of convenience: the four-pack format. Appletiser’s multipacks, available from April, are marketed at 25 to 35-year-old women as being handbag-sized, and are supported by a £1.5m sponsorship of re-runs of the TV comedy Friends.
Shloer’s single-serve bottle four-pack, launched this month, will meet consumer demands for single-serve options.
Consumer research into the posh squash market reveals an association between bubbles and premium products, despite the criticism facing carbonates. Coppard explains: “When consumers have tried samples of Shloer without carbonation, they ask why they should pay more for what they see as an expensive squash.”
Standard-flavour combinations don’t meet the grade at this end of the market either, although overly exotic or unfamiliar ingredients can also be a turn-off.
Innovative new mixes, such as Belvoir’s mint and lime pressé or Bottlegreen Drinks’ wine-inspired Bon Grape low-sugar juice drink, offer consumers a sophisticated taste, which the suppliers claim merits premium pricing.
Peverel Manners, general manager of Belvoir, said: “Price is a major factor in adult soft drinks, as they are simply more expensive to produce with a greater juice content.”
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