E-commerce represents a small but thriving global retail channel for soft drinks. This briefing examines Euromonitor International’s e-commerce data across 15 markets, focusing on soft drinks brands’ performance in 2023. Leading brands, categories and retailers for online beverages are explored in the context of wider consumer trends in drinks.
This report comes in PPT.
Harnessing seasonal opportunities and increasingly trend-sensitive online consumers is emerging as a common thread among online beverage success stories. Whether through online exclusives (eg Coca-Cola’s Happy Tears on TikTok Shop) or expanding the appeal of functional categories (like powder mixes) – new or exciting flavours are an important marketing tool online.
Leading global suppliers of soft drinks continue to feel the impact of upstart, independent brands gaining share through the power of celebrity. While e-commerce is unlikely to be a dominant volume channel, digital marketing and higher return-on-investment advertising online will be a priority, particularly through e-commerce sites, where competition is intense and consumer behaviour is even more likely to be influenced by social media and online influencers.
Retailers and suppliers online must focus their energies on developing and expanding functional categories – which have an outsized presence online (particularly in online marketplace channels, where consumers are more experimental and impulsive than online grocery). Energy drinks and non-RTD powder mixes remain winning areas, catering successfully to resilient demand for health and wellness options, despite their premium prices.
While inflation is moderating in 2024, price and packaging mix must be constantly evaluated to understand the price elasticity of cash-strapped consumers fatigued by the perceived increase in the cost of living since 2021. Smaller multipacks, mini-cans and lighter weight options, along with subscription models, will be necessary to minimise exorbitant shipping costs for RTD items, particularly in value-added health and functional categories, where price/litre is already high.
This is the aggregation of the following categories; Carbonates, Fruit/vegetable juice, Bottled water, Functional drinks, Concentrates, RTD tea, RTD coffee and Asian speciality drinks.
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