Flavours are back WHAT’S TRENDING IN ENERGY?

JASPER HART explores the factors influencing growth and change in the energy drinks category, and what it means for retailers in 2023

An Energetic Category

HOW much is the energy drinks category worth? Depending on who you ask, it’s either a lot, or even more. “Within the soft drinks category, sports and energy account for £817.9m,” says Adrian Hipkiss, marketing director at Boost Drinks, citing IRI figures.

“More and more shoppers have bought into energy this year,” adds Adrian Troy, marketing director at Barr Soft Drinks. “Worth £1.7bn and growing by 13%, the energy drinks market is the biggest and most profitable drink-now segment.” We can go slightly further: “Sports and energy continues to perform well, worth £1.9bn, up by 15.7%,” says a Red Bull spokesperson. Whatever the category’s precise worth, it’s undoubtedly one of the key soft drinks columns. Estimates vary so much partly due to different definitions of the segment. Tradi- tional lines such as isotonic sports drinks and caffeinated energy drinks have been joined by more functional lines and brands focusing on offering a slower release of energy.

Zero-sugar varieties of established popular sellers are also finding larger audiences.

Furthermore, while characterised by ubiquitous market leaders which are unlikely to stick around on any retailer’s shelves for too long, the cat- egory has not been immune to the cost-of-living crisis. This means larger singlepack sizes, multipack formats and value lines, particularly own label, have a vital role to play in influencing a store’s energy drink range.

There’s plenty of opportunity within the energy segment, but that also means retailers have their work cut out crafting a range that is optimised for their customer bases.