If you’re a retailer, you need to be on the pulse if you’re going to capitalise on the national tastes that seem to fluctuate each year. While some classics never go out of style, our nation certainly seems to change its mind on the most popular food and drink items as the years pass by.
Drinks are a massive part of the UK’s consumer market – our soft drink market alone was estimated to be worth about £18bn in 2020. The alcoholic drink section is even more lucrative, with interest continuing to climb even though more people are experimenting with non-alcoholic beers and alternatives.
As a shop owner, you need to understand these interests in order to stock the right products and capture customer attention. Here are some interesting facts about the UK drink market and the most popular products consumed on our shores…
Britain's favourite alcoholic drinks
The UK’s alcoholic drinks market continues to be popular, shifting more towards drinking alcoholic drinks at home rather than going out. For a retailer, that’s great news – it means your customers are just as likely to come to you for their weekend alcohol than heading out to bars or clubs. But what do they like to drink?
Beer, it seems, is the most popular drink by a clear margin. 17% of survey respondents to Accor said ‘beer’ was their favourite drink, regardless of brand. Lots of this interest is driven by the rise of craft beer, with brands like Brewdog going from unknown to everyday in just a few years. However, UK customers tend to favour brands they already know. Mintel said that 32% of buyers are more likely to choose new drinks if they come from brands they know.
While it doesn’t track sales and instead looks at how UK citizens perceive brands, the YouGov sentiment tracker shows us that the UK’s favourite beer & cider brands are:
- San Miguel
- Guinness
- Heineken
- Kopparberg
- Bulmers
- Peroni
- Stella Artois
- Kronenbourg 1664
- Magners
- Corona
Soft Drinks
The UK’s soft drink market is quite varied, with a range of up-and-coming brands like Innocent competing against large corporations such as Coca-Cola. The nation seems to enjoy a mix of fizzy drinks, cordials and energy drinks – with some names far more popular than others.
Again using YouGov’s sentiment tracker, we can see that the top 10 beverage brands in the UK are:
- Schweppes
- Ribena
- Sprite
- Robinsons
- Nescafe
- 7UP
- PG Tips
- Fanta
- Coca-Cola
- Kenco
However, if you’re looking at actual sales figures, the most popular soft drinks by sales volume are very different. According to Statista, the top brands by convenience store sales were:
- Coca-Cola
- Pepsi
- Red Bull
- Lucozade
- Monster
- Robinsons
- Innocent
- Fanta
- Tropicana
- Schweppes
What does this tell you as a retailer? Well - the answer is clear: when it comes to alcoholic drinks you need to ensure you have a ready stock of popular branded beers. For soft drinks, however, you need a wide selection to really maximise your sales – as customers seem to favour a variety of fizzy drinks like Coca-Cola as well as energy drinks such as Red Bull and even smoothies from Innocent.
Here at Miller Food Service, we can keep you stocked up on virtually any mainstream beverage brand. We’ve got Coca-Cola, 7Up and more in our Carbonates range and a great mixture of brands in our Beers, Wines and Spirits. Stock up today and give your customers what they want!