Strong demand for bottled water, sports drinks and ready-to-drink coffee helped accelerate total non-alcoholic beverage sales over the Labor Day holiday earlier this month, as sales grew 13% year-over-year during the two-week period ended on September 10, according to a Goldman Sachs Equity Research Report based on NielsenIQ data.
Those numbers were supported by a less than 1% increase in volume — back into the black after falling -1.9% for the four-week period and -0.4% during the 12-weeks. Price, meanwhile, remained elevated at 13% during the two weeks. Total dollar sales were up 35.9% year-over-year for the two-weeks, a sequential gain over +33.8% in the four-weeks and +32.1% for the 12-weeks.
CSDs
Improved volumes (-1.1%) and stable pricing (+15.6%) helped push CSD sales up 14.3% during the two-week window, accelerating from 14% in the four-week and 12-week periods (+12.5% for the 52-weeks). Coca-Cola posted the biggest sales increase during the period, rising 17.3% compared to 17% for both the four-weeks and 12-weeks, followed by Keurig Dr Pepper (+13.2%) and PepsiCo (+10.1%), with each also posting rising volumes. However, Shasta and Faygo maker National Beverage Co. posted the biggest sales gain during the two-weeks at +28% (+2.1% volume), as well as the largest pricing increase at 25.4%.
Water
Bottled water enjoyed surging sales in the two weeks, up over 34%, a sequential improvement from the four-week gain of 30%. Volume was up 11.5% (a notable pickup from +7.6% in the four-weeks and +9.6% in the 12-weeks), while pricing decelerated to 21.7% (+14.5% for the 52-week period). KDP and Niagara Bottling led the way with +46.6% sales growth in the two-weeks, but healthy double-digit gains spanned across the top players, including private label.
Sparkling and still flavored water were both winners in the latest sales report. The former, led by strong numbers from Spindrift (sales +30.8% and volume +23.4%) and Polar (sales +15.7%, volume +0.4%), saw overall sales accelerate 6.7% in the two weeks (+5.5% during the four-weeks and +5.9% for the 52-weeks) while pricing remained relatively stable at 11.3%. In still flavored water, volume trended upward (-14.5%, compared to -15.2% in the four-weeks) in the two weeks as sales also rose (+5.5%), but pricing continued to climb, going from 21.5% in the four-weeks to 23.4%.
Energy Drinks
Energy drinks made sequential gains in sales from the four-week (+11.2%) to the two-week period (+12.3%), coming against rising prices (+7.3%) and a slight uptick in volume growth (+4.7%, versus +4.3% in the four-weeks). The pricing action taken by Monster and Red Bull continues to play out in the numbers: the former saw pricing growth accelerate +9% in the two weeks (+4.9% in the four weeks), while the latter saw pricing jump 5%. However the eye-popping numbers came further down, led by triple-digit sales gains in the two-weeks for Celsius (+126%, with volume up 121%), Nutrabolt (126.6%/+132%) and GHOST (+1286%/+1231%). Meanwhile, sales growth for Bang continued to trend downwards at -19.2% for the two-week period (-18.3% in the four-weeks) with volume also dropping -22.6%.
Sports Drinks
Overall volumes rebounded (+0.8% in the two-weeks, versus -2.6% in the four-weeks) and pricing was relatively stable (holding at 9.7%) according to the latest Goldman Sachs report. However, dollar sales were down from the 12-week period (+12%) but up in the low double-digits sequentially. Pepsi enjoyed accelerating sales (+19.5%) during the window, putting further distance between it and rival Coca-Cola (-11.7%).
Tea
Dollar sales of liquid tea were up 11.1% during the two-week window, led by strong numbers from Pepsi/Lipton (+10.2%) and Milo’s (+45.3%). Category wide, pricing remained steady at +12.2% and volume was down almost -1% during the period.
Coffee
Coffee continued to pick up pace sequentially, as dollar sales rose 18.1% in the two-weeks (+16.8% in the four-weeks, +10% in the 12-weeks) and volume accelerated around 17.2% and pricing was relatively stable at +0.8%. Danone North America posted the biggest dollar sales gain during the two-week period at +26.5% (against +20.5% pricing), while category leader Pepsi/Starbucks reported 17.8% sales growth and 24.3% volume gains in the same window.