2023 Britvic Soft Drinks Review Convenience - Flipbook - Page 21
CONVENIENCE CATEGORY OVERVIEW
CONVENIENCE DEEP DIVE
For a start, shoppers are becoming increasingly costconscious. While 62% of shoppers visited c-stores
at least once a week in 2022, up from 60% in 2021,8
they are doing so less often; they’re also buying fewer
products and spending less. Visit frequency fell by 3.7%
year-on-year in 2022; average basket size shrank by
9.7% and average spend fell by 11%.7
Clearly, the cost-of-living crisis is being felt far and wide.
Shoppers are trading down when they visit c-stores and
more people are visiting discounters. By July last year,
there had been a 5% point year-on-year rise in shoppers
defined as “very value-led” and the percentage visiting
discounters and buying own-label had increased by 2.7%
points and 4% points quarter-on-quarter respectively.9
CONVENIENCE DATA TABLES
In absolute terms, energy drinks were the greatest
contributor to growth in the convenience channel,
boosting sales by £96.9m (14.7%).10 Cola and plain
water were the next most significant contributors to
growth for c-store operators, adding just over £70m
each, with respective percentage gains of 11.6% and
39.4%4. Developing a compelling range of chilled, wellmerchandised and easily browsed soft drinks can pay
huge dividends for convenience retailers.
Soft drinks have shown remarkable resilience in the
face of all this adversity. As shoppers stepped up the
hunt for value in 2022, soft drinks remained a branddominated category and widened the gap between
themselves and own label lines, which have seen
sales dip by 1.3%.4 The category is also a key footfall
driver, with growing numbers of shoppers looking for
affordable treats in store7.
Big spenders
KEY METRICS - 52WE 08/01/23
Visit
frequency
(per week)
Trip
spend
Basket
size
TOTAL CONVENIENCE
Change vs 52WE
09/01/2022
2.6
-3.7%
£6.98
-11.0%
2.8
-9.7%
SOFT DRINKS
Change vs 52WE
09/01/2022
2.8
-3.4%
£6.56
-20.3%
3.3
-10.8%
Lumina Intelligence CTP Programme 52WE 08/01/2023
8 UK Convenience Market Report, Lumina Intelligence, July 2022 – Channel Forecast 2022
9 Lumina Intelligence, July 2022
10 IRI, Convenience Channel, Total Stimulants, Value, 52WE 01/01/2023 vs YA
CONVENIENCE CATEGORY OVERVIEW
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