FDBusiness.com

New research from Mintel reveals that half (54%) of British consumers claim to often feel tired, rising to six in ten (60%) women. In line with this, throughout the downturn the sports and energy drinks market saw steady growth rising from £1 billion in 2009 to an estimated £1.5 billion in 2014.

Today, three quarters (75%) of Brits say they are more fun to be around when they’re feeling energetic (rising to 82% of women) and 64% say they get irritated easily when they’re tired (rising to 75% of women). Further to this, it seems that many have been looking to fight their fatigue with sports and energy drinks as 61% of Brits have drunk a sports drink and 46% an energy drink in the past year.

However, despite its relatively high penetration, the sports drink market is declining – with sales of this drink down from 173 million litres in 2011 to a predicted 156 million litres in 2014, falling in value terms by 15% from £236 million to £218 million over the same period. This comes despite sales of energy drinks rising from 454 million litres to an estimated 550 million litres between 2011 and 2014, rising from £1 billion in 2011 to a predicted £1.3 billion in 2014. Indicating the continued strong performance of the energy drinks sector, sales are expected to rise to 647 million litres in 2019, compared to the sports drink sector which is expected to sink to 115 million litres.

David Zhang, Research Analyst at Mintel, comments: “The growth of the sports and energy drinks market has slowed down dramatically over the past couple of years since peaking in 2011, due to the ailing sports drink market. The decline in sales of sports drinks at a time when sports participation is rising highlights that consumers are opting for other sources of hydration when undertaking sports. With strong overlap between users of sports and energy drinks, cross-category competition between the segments looks likely to remain intense.”

Indeed, the research shows that there is strong consumer demand for sports and energy drinks providing a natural high. When it comes to energy drinks, over three-quarters (77%) of Brits would like clearer information on what the different ingredients in the energy drinks do and 43% would be interested in trying energy drinks made with all natural-ingredients in the future. Furthermore, 72% would like clearer information on what each ingredients in sport drinks do and 44% would be interested in trying sport drinks made with all-natural ingredients.