Dollar sales soften across all categories in the beverage market.
The most recent four-week period has resulted in softening sales across the beverage market.
New research from Wells Fargo Securities has shown that dollar sales across the beverage market have experienced only modest growth in most categories during the recent four-week period ending Aug. 13, 2016. All channel dollar sales for the total snack and beverage categories were up 2.6% this period.
Each of the major non-alcoholic beverage manufacturers struggled to overcome softness in certain beverage categories over the past four weeks. Coca-Cola’s beverage dollar sales were up 1.3% last month. This growth was driven by improvements in water and tea sales, but it was offset by continued softness in the carbonated soft drinks and refrigerated juice categories. PepsiCo experienced growth of 1.3% in its total beverage and snack dollar sales last month. The growth was driven by positive results in salty snacks and non-carbonated beverages, but it too was offset by carbonated soft drink softness, along with weak tea sales. Dr Pepper Snapple Group total beverage dollar sales were down 0.8% in the recent four-week period. This decline was driven by slight declines in all major categories. Finally, Monster’s dollar sales were up a modest 3.3% this period, which is the lowest sales growth the company has seen so far this year.
Data from Wells Fargo Securities has revealed that carbonated soft drink sales turned negative, once again, during this period, as total dollar sales were down in all channels. The carbonated soft drink category continues to underperform other categories, as it was down 1.1% in the recent four-week period. This decline was driven by modest equal price growth of 1.1% and equal unit volume declines of 2.2%
Wells Fargo Securities also reported that the energy category only generated soft growth of 3.3% this period. Weak trends in Red Bull and declines in Monster contributed to the category’s softness this period.
Like other categories, the beer category has also softened in the recent period, according to Wells Fargo. In the recent four-week period, beer sales were only up a modest 1.8%. Growth was driven by strong 3% price increases, but it was hindered by equal unit declines of 1.2%.
The salty snacks category also softened slightly in the recent period, Wells Fargo reported. Dollar sales for salty snacks increased 3.4% during this period, with 1.3% equal unit growth and 2% equal unit pricing.