Despite a massive increase in recent years, new research from Mintel suggests that energy drinks and shots may be struggling to find new customers in the US, according to BeverageDaily.com.
Between 2005 and 2009, US energy drink sales grew 136% as the concept of highly caffeinated soft drinks grabbed the imagination of many consumers, the report said.
But now research from Mintel indicates that marketers may be failing to grow the pool of interested consumers.
According to its recent survey data, 74% of consumers say they don’t consume energy drinks/shots and 69% of those non-users say they are not interested in trying them.
Mintel Global Market Navigator (GMN) data reveals that the number of energy drink consumers remained pretty flat at about 15% of all adults between 2007 and 2009.
“Sales of energy drinks and shots have remained relatively strong for the last few years, but the same core group of customers continues to buy them,” Garima Goel Lal, senior analyst at Mintel was quoted as saying.
“The category added only one million new energy drinks users aged 18+ during 2007-2009, compared to 9.3 million new users during 2005-2007, so manufacturers are eager to grow that number again.”
Survey responses reveal some of the reasons why energy drinks have failed to make their mark on a wider audience.
Non-users cite high prices (48%), too much caffeine (43%) and a general feeling that energy drinks/shots just aren’t good for you (43%) as reasons why they have not consumed any in the past three months.
“The fact that seven out of 10 people are not interested in the energy drink category suggests the need for manufacturers to develop products aimed at a wider audience,” Garima Goel Lal said.
“Providing consumers with more flavours, less sugar and reduced caffeine content are all ways for companies to attract more customers.”