Energy drink sales soar with help from low gas prices.

Carbonated soft drinks (CSD), excluding energy drinks saw strong sales and improved volumes, as well as significant pricing growth, reported Wells Fargo Securities LLC. Total CSD (excluding energy drinks) dollar sales in the U.S. C-store channel were up a solid +4.8% (+3.2% for prior 12-weeks) during the four-week period ending Feb. 14, 2015, according to Nielsen data.

“We remain encouraged by Coca-Cola’s ability to lead its peers in achieving pricing to offset volume weakness and gain dollar and unit share,” said Bonnie Herzog, managing director, beverage, tobacco and convenience research for Wells Fargo.

“We believe all categories of in-store merchandise were the beneficiary of lower gas prices at the pump and increased consumer spending in-stores. The CSD category has further benefitted from Coca-Cola-led pricing initiatives, which contributed to strong dollar sales growth.”

Energy Drinks
Meanwhile, the energy drink category had strong dollar sales growth of +15.4%, driven by continued solid results from Monster and Red Bull.

“We believe the energy category was one of the largest beneficiaries of the recent drop in gas prices at the pump, which bottomed out during this period; however, we expect sales to normalize somewhat as gas prices have started to rise once more,” said Herzog.

Beer & Snacks
Beer dollar sales in the U.S. C-store channel were up a strong +6.5% (+4.7% for 12-weeks) driven by equal unit growth of +3.6% and pricing growth of +2.8%, according Nielsen data and Wells Fargo.

Salty snacks category dollar sales increased +9.8% during the recent four-week period (+7.4% for 12-weeks), with solid +9.0% unit growth and +0.7% pricing.