Small bottles extinguish excessive heat

The excessive heat in the summer makes it almost impossible to go from one place to another without having a bottle of refreshment handy.

This makes the sales of products that come in 0.5l or even smaller bottles, i.e. those that are the easiest to handle, surge by 300% in summer time.

“Consumption of soft drinks made by European Drinks and sold in 0.5l bottles increases by approximately 300% throughout May-August. July-August may be, of course, considered the consumption peak, but this is very much up to the weather conditions,” European Drinks representatives said.

They did not care to provide any comments on the sales volume or value in peak periods.

“The growth is explained by both the natural upward trend witnessed by soft drinks and by the fact that is the time when the location of the stands matters most, as more shelves and iceboxes are allotted to small bottles,” the company representatives added.

In the case of Quadrant Amroq Beverages (QAB), PepsiCo, Kick, Prigat, Lipton Ice Tea and Perla mineral waters bottler, the sales of products offered in containers that hold less than 0.6l account for 30% of the total volume during the season, i.e. June-August, compared to 15% in the rest of the year.

“The sales volume for such products goes up 150% in peak season. This stands for QAB, but may very well give a picture of the entire market,” Quadrant Amroq Beverages marketing manager Eusediu Margasoiu said.

“The growth is due to the out of home consumption opportunities generated by the good weather and by the opening of seasonal points of sales – outdoor bars, pools, as well as to the many clients at the seaside,” Margasoiu said.

The Coca-Cola representatives did not care to comment on this phenomenon.

This trend is verified by market surveys, as well.

If looking at the retail trade (supermarkets, groceries, kiosks), the sales of soft drinks bottled in containers that hold 0.5l or less accounted for 46% of the total sales throughout June-September 2002, compared with 39% throughout October 2002-May 2003, a survey by the market research company ACNielsen shows.

The widest gap can be seen on the non-carbonated soft drinks (up to 25% fruit content) segment, where sales of such products in small containers accounted for 26% of the total between June-September 2002 compared to 22% between October 2002-May 2003.

The soft drinks market, which also includes mineral waters, is estimated to amount to more than $500 million this year. claudia.covaci@zf.ro