Carbonated soft drinks sales in free fall, says Nielsen data

By Elaine WATSON

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Soft drink

Dollar sales of diet soda plunged 9.5% in the four weeks to April 12, while sales of regular soda fared hardly any better (- 2.4%), as Americans sought out other options from energy drinks (+8.9%) to sparkling water (+24.5%), according to the latest Nielsen data.

Overall carbonated soft drinks sales slumped 4.8% over the period.

Nielsen Scantrack data (XAOC*) analyzed by Wells Fargo, shows that dollar sales of diet/low-calorie carbonated soft drinks dipped 8.6% at Coca-Cola, 8.4% at PepsiCo and 12.5% at Dr Pepper Snapple Group over the four-week period, while their regular CSD sales were +0.3%, -3.1% and -2.5% respectively.

In contrast, said Wells Fargo Securities senior analyst Bonnie Herzog, Monster’s dollar sales surged 17.2% over the same period.

Red Bull and Rockstar’s sales growth was more modest (+2.7% and +5.4% respectively), but were still in the positive territory, she added.

Functional beverages, like energy, remain one of the few sources of growth in nonalcoholic beverages while carbonated soft drinks continue to remain under pressure.” 

*Data covers all outlets (food, drug, mass, dollar, military, club), except convenience stores

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