Weather hits soft drinks but soup sales soar

The study from Talking Retail, compiled in partnership with global market research company, Nielsen, shows soft drinks performed poorly but soups and hot beverages sold well.

Ice cream also took a hit but other frozen foods performed strongly with fewer competing barbecue occasions.

“While it is not the overriding trend in the Top 100 Grocery Brands report, the wettest summer on record in 2007 has influenced category growth and grocery brand rankings,” says report editor Fiona Briggs.

Soft drinks is the largest category in grocery but total sales rose by just 2.8% in 2007, following 8% growth in the previous year.

Volvic, the number one water brand, declined by 6.4% last year. Ribena and Fanta also dropped in value and fizzy drinks, in particular, performed less well than their still rivals.

Fruit juices, smoothies and energy drinks all sold well, however.

Innocent, for instance, was the fastest-growing brand last year with sales up by 45.6%. Red Bull grew by 22.5% and Lucozade increased by 13.8%.

Soup and hot drinks also had a strong year, thanks to the wet weather and cooler temperatures.

Heinz Soup rose by 12.5% in 2007 and all the top tea and coffee brands grew or remained stable.

Frozen food was another surprise beneficiary with all the leading brands in growth. Fewer occasions to barbecue gave frozen fish an extra fillip last year, for example.

Chocolate was another winning category. All of the chocolate brands in the Top 100 league grew in 2007 with both Mars and Galaxy enjoying double-digit growth.