Soft drinks is the biggest impulse category and second most profitable – so is a key category to get right in store.
Follow these basics principles to help grow your soft drinks sales and maximize the impulse opportunity in your store.
Key Points
- Range
Ensure all core products are always in stock because the top 10 brands deliver over 60% of all soft drinks sales.
- Layout
Make it easy for customers to find what they want by grouping like products together. This alone can increase your sales by +8%.
- Equipment
Chilling soft drinks increases sales by 60% and an open dairy deck can increase your soft drink sales by a further 8% as it encourages purchase.
- Communications
Pass on good deals from your wholesaler to drive greater sales and use POS to make sure customers are aware of deals.
- Locations
50% of soft drinks are bought on impulse, so make sure the chiller is easy to find and purchase from.
What to stock
| Rank | Product | Annual sales total (£m) | Change on previous year (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | RED BULL 250ml | 73.7 | 5.8 |
| 02 | COCA COLA 500ml | 63.7 | 04 |
| 03 | LUCOZADE ENERGY ORANGE 380ml/500ml | 50.5 | 3.1 |
| 04 | DIET COKE 500ml | 45.6 | 2.7 |
| 05 | COCA COLA 330ml | 36.6 | 8.9 |
| 06 | LUCOZADE ENERGY ORIGINAL 380ml/500ml | 28.3 | -8.4 |
| 07 | LUCOZADE SPORT ORANGE 500ml | 27.1 | 4.9 |
| 08 | DIET COKE 330ml | 19.7 | 5.0 |
| 09 | CHERRY COKE 500ml | 18.5 | 4.3 |
| 10 | DR PEPPER 500ml | 17.9 | -2.0 |
| 11 | RED BULL 355ML | 17.6 | 5.6 |
| 12 | VOLVIC 1l | 16.9 | 6.0 |
| 13 | RIBENA BLACKCURRANT 500ml | 16.2 | -2.1 |
| 14 | RELENTLESS ORIGIN 500ml | 16.1 | -12.5 |
| 15 | OWN-LABEL ENERGY DRINK 250ml | 16.0 | 198.8 |
| 27 | LUCOZADE ENERGY CHERRY 380ml/500ml  |
9.9 | 333.2 |
| 32 | RED BULL 473ml |
8.7 | 102.0 |
| 50 | LUCOZADE SPORT LITE SUMMER BERRIES 500ml |
4.0 | - |
| 16 | MONSTER ENERGY 500ml | 15.3 | 201.7 |
| 17 | OASIS SUMMERFRUITS 500ml | 14.4 | -8.6 |
| 18 | VOLVIC 500ml | 13.5 | 1.5 |
| 19 | OASIS CITRUS PUNCH 500ml | 12.6 | -8.1 |
| 20 | EVIAN 750ml | 12.5 | -3.4 |
| 21 | RED BULL SUGAR FREE 250ml | 12.3 | 12.9 |
| 22 | PEPSI 500ml | 11.4 | 0.4 |
| 23 | EVIAN 500ml | 11.0 | 5.6 |
| 24 | IRN BRU 500ml | 10.6 | -6.9 |
| 25 | FANTA ORANGE 500ml | 9.9 | -10.1 |
| 26 | LUCOZADE SPORT RASPBERRY 500ml | 9.9 | 4.0 |
| 28 | POWERADE BERRY & TROPICAL 500ml | 9.8 | -4.4 |
| 29 | SPRITE 500ml | 9.6 | -7.8 |
| 30 | RIBENA BLACKCURRANT 288ml | 8.7 | 1.9 |
| 31 | FANTA FRUIT TWIST 500ml | 8.7 | -12.9 |
| 33 | PEPSI MAX 600ml | 8.6 | - |
| 34 | COKE ZERO 500ml | 7.5 | -7.7 |
| 35 | CAPRI SUN ORANGE 330ml | 7.1 | 23.4 |
| 36 | CHERRY COKE 330ml | 6.8 | 17.7 |
| 37 | IRN BRU 330ml | 6.0 | 11.0 |
| 38 | LUCOZADE ENERGY APPLE 380ml/500ml | 5.7 | 4.5 |
| 39 | VOLVIC TOUCH OF FRUITS STRAWBERRY 500ml | 5.5 | 25.1 |
| 40 | RIBENA STRAWBERRY 500ml | 5.5 | 62.3 |
| 41 | DR PEPPER 330ml | 5.4 | 10.3 |
| 42 | OWN-LABEL SPORT DRINK ORANGE 500ml | 5.3 | 248.7 |
| 43 | LUCOZADE SPORT ORANGE 750ml | 4.9 | 11.8 |
| 44 | JUICY DRENCH ORANGE & PASSIONFRUIT 440ml | 4.4 | 66.8 |
| 45 | ROBINSONS FRUIT SHOOT BLACKCURRANT & APPLE NAS 300ml | 4.4 | -3.7 |
| 46 | RIBENA REALLY LIGHT BLACKCURRANT 500ml | 4.3 | -7.0 |
| 47 | TROPICANA PURE PREMIUM SMOOTH STYLE ORANGE JUICE 330ml | 4.2 | 4.9 |
| 48 | RIBENA STRAWBERRY 288ml | 4.2 | 10.0 |
| 49 | POWERADE CHERRY 500ml | 4.1 | -3.0 |
Source: AC Nielsen Total Impulse to w/e 19.03.2011
Use the arrows on the right to scroll through the data, or sort it the way you want by clicking on the column headings.
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Planograms
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Retailer Testimonials
Nimish Patel, Londis, Dartford, Kent
“I’ve had my store for two years and refitted it last March. It is off a high street, opposite a park, with busy bus stops outside.
“When GSK visited, we adjusted the soft drinks range according to my EPoS data, grouped like-products in clear displays and cut slow lines in order to add missing best sellers. I was pleased with the results – my soft drinks sales were up by 35 per cent to £1,500 per week. This is 25 per cent above the market average.
“I now have a clear and effective chiller layout. Clear blocking makes it easy for shoppers to find the drinks they want to buy. And aligning space to sales helps availability, while a clear layout makes it easier to stock the chiller.”
Source: Selling on Impulse 2009
Nimish Ashar, Newsmarket, Rainham
“By following this advice I’ve seen a small change in soft drink sales and I’ve been encouraged me to take a fresh look at my range and display.
“Although we’ve been stocking some products for years, we asked whether they are giving a return on investment. Our stock holding is down as a result.
“I also applied the advice to categories such as stationery and magazines, culling and balancing ranges.
“With magazines, it’s created more space and allowed me to have a few full facings.
“Soft drinks sales are driven by impulse sales and therefore it is very important to ensure clear visibility of key brands, which act as signposts to the category.”
