Beverage Digest/Maxwell ranks soft drink industry for 2000
Coke and Pepsi post modest gains; Cadbury out-performs; Diet Pepsi and Coke's Barq's fastest-growing Top-10 brands.
In 2000, the US carbonated soft drink industry posted modest growth with volume increasing +0.2% overall, according to the latest Beverage Digest/Maxwell all-channel data. The two leaders, The Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo, slightly under-performed the industry. Each posted volume growth of +0.1% and had no changes in their market shares. The #3 player, Dr Pepper/Seven Up owned by Cadbury Schweppes, out-performed with growth of +1.1% and gained share.
Much of the volume sluggishness experienced by Coke and Pepsi was due to their bottlers raising prices throughout the year. Beverage Digest anticipates price increases will be more modest this year and that volume will pick up. Last year's price increases, however, not only dampened volume performance of the leaders, but also helped propel growth by private label soft drinks. Cott Corp., the leading producer of private label carbonated soft drinks, posted a volume increase of +5.8% and gained +0.2 market share points.
The industry's volume last year totaled 9.95 billion 192-ounce cases, up from 9.93 billion cases in 1999. Beverage Digest estimates the retail value of the industry grew +4% to about $60.2 billion, up from $57.9 billion in 1999, as a result of the upward price movement.
Brands
All of the top-10 brands are owned by the top-three companies: Coke, Pepsi and Cadbury. Coke Classic continues in the number one spot, followed by Pepsi-Cola.
Among the top-10 brands in 2000, two of the three strongest performers were the two leading diet colas: Diet Pepsi and Diet Coke. Diet Pepsi posted the strongest growth of any top-10 brand, up +4%; Diet Coke was up +2.5%. Due to their volume increases, the two leading diet colas each gained +0.2 market share points. Another brand which out-performed the industry was Barq's root beer from Coke; its volume grew +3%.
Three brands which have shown strong growth in recent years did not fare as well this year. Pepsi's Mt. Dew, the #4 brand, grew volume by +1.5%. However, in 1999, it was the top-growing brand, posting a volume increase of +6%. Last year, volume for Coke's Sprite declined -2%. Cadbury's Dr Pepper grew just slightly, up +0.1%.
Beverage Digest/Maxwell tracks carbonated soft drink volume in all channels including retail, vending and fountain. The table shows the top-10 soft drink companies and brands for 2001.
Note: During 2000, Monarch sold Nugrape and Nesbitt's to Big Red
Contact: John D. Sicher, 914/244-0700
Source: Beverage Digest/Maxwell