FDBusiness.com

With sales of almost £10 billion, the UK soft drinks market continued to show resilience during 2012 to register value growth in the grocery, convenience and impulse channel and the pubs and clubs channel, despite the tough economic environment, another poor summer and consumers’ tight control on their spending.

According to the 2013 Britvic Soft Drinks Report, value sales for the grocery, convenience and impulse market grew by 2.8% to reach £7.21 billion in 2012, with volume sales down 0.8% to 6.97 billion litres. The pubs and clubs channel increased value sales by 1.5% to £2.73 billion, with volume sales down 3% to 509 million litres.

The report points out that although UK shoppers continued to be cautious, the grocery, convenience and impulse channel, in which soft drinks are heavily discounted, benefited as consumers opted to make stay-at-home occasions more special, with affordable brand indulgences winning out over own-label brands.

A feature of 2012 was the increased focus on the impact that soft drink consumption has on the nation’s health. Although soft drinks contribute just 2% of the total calories in a typical diet, the industry was quick to respond. PepsiCo and CCE were amongst the first soft drinks companies to sign up to the government’s Calorie Reduction Pledge. More recently, a number of other leadingUKcompanies, including Britvic, AG Barr and GlaxoSmithKline, have pledged their support.