A Change in Beverage Preferences
Recent studies have demonstrated the steep decrease in certain beverages high in calorie and sugar content, including sodas and fruit drinks. Many Americans are now focusing on a variety of drinks that contain diet formulations with low calorie and sugar numbers. As mentioned earlier, the calories consumed in beverage form is rapidly decreasing, with most of the change coming from soda and fruit drinks. Children are also drinking less milk, which demonstrates the fixation with calories that Americans now hold. Americans are opting for energy and sport drinks that have no calories but a long list of ingredients. These growing categories of energy and sport drinks are yielding sales, however they have not grown enough to compensate for the large decline on soda consumption. Big beverage companies are still investing in these types of beverages because they do hold future potential to yield greater profits. They are clearly a growing segment, so perhaps more time is needed for the beverages to fully compensate and take over the soda decline.
As Americans are starting to become more health conscious, I would think that they would be skeptical to not only calories, but also the list of questionable ingredients in the beverages they consume. Therefore, I do hold some doubt for the future of the sport and energy drink industry. I also think the article failed to mention new "health" drinks, such as all green drinks or coconut water. I believe that the sale of super health drinks will increase in the future due to not only a new health attitude, but also to the increase in nutritional education Americans are now receiving.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/16/upshot/energy-drinks-are-popular-but-not-enough-to-replace-soda.html?ref=economy
2 comments:
Consumers are starting to weigh cost and benefits to soda product drink. The high calorie soda companies started shifting to low or zero calorie options, however sugar ingredients remain the same. So why do these soda companies still produce the original? Despite low sales, there is still a demand for it. Does this also mean that they'll start serving the sport/energy drink market? This article shows the profit shift now to a more "healthy" (but not really) beneficial type of drink, sport/energy drinks. Though less calories and sugar still not as healthy as milk or water. I do agree with the point you made about coconut water and greens drinks, they are becoming increasingly popular as more and more companies start to produce them. I agree with your prediction that theses healthy drinks will see a rise in profits and maybe one day be able to compete with these large soda corporations.
This is a trend that truly is sweeping the nation. Young and middle aged generations have put down soda and are consuming more and more un-carbonated drinks. With that said, artificial sugar and sweeteners have been around since the 1950s and have avoided such attacks.
I disagree that that people will start to question these artificial sweeteners because these companies marketing schemes are built around making their product look healthier.
I do agree that there will be a continued shift away from sodas and that companies should continue to invest in sports and health drinks. Even the bottled water sector has seen some growth as sodas continue to decline.
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