Refrigerated juices and juice drinks are perpetual favorites in produce departments and dairy aisles, but there are limits to what shoppers are willing to spend outside of the super-premium category. The category's recent history shows that when prices go up, volume sales quickly go down, and when prices go down, consumption quickly returns to normal.
As a result, total dollar sales of juice have changed very little in recent years. In 2007, price spikes in the juice category caused unit sales to decline 8%, but dollar sales still rose 4.6% to reach $4.2 billion in the supermarket channel. During 2009, falling prices caused consumption to increase 3%, even as dollar sales fell 1.6%, netting the supermarket channel $4.2 billion. During the latest 52 weeks ending June 13, volume is up 3.8%, but dollar sales are still flat.
Orange juice, by far the largest subcategory, saw sales drop 4.5% due to falling prices and flat consumption, while a handful of smaller categories, such as smoothies, refrigerated vegetable juices and refrigerated lemonade, continued to show strong growth potential.
SUBCATEGORIES
52 WEEKS ENDING JUNE 13, 2010 | DOLLAR SALES | % CHANGE FROM LAST YEAR |
---|---|---|
Rfg All Other Fruit Juice | $47.8M | -14.4 |
Rfg Apple Juice | $39.6M | 5.7 |
Rfg Blended Fruit Juice | $313.8M | -6.4 |
Rfg Cider | $62.0M | -1.9 |
Rfg Cranberry Cocktail/Drink | $3.9M | 5.6 |
Rfg Cranberry Juice/Cranberry Juice Blend | $312.5K | -42.7 |
Rfg Fruit Drink | $626.3M | 4.4 |
Rfg Fruit Nectar | $17.7M | -10.5 |
Rfg Grape Juice | $1.2M | 3.3 |
Rfg Grapefruit Juice | $76.0M | -6.7 |
Rfg Juice And Drink Smoothies | $193.3M | 18.6 |
Rfg Juice/Drink Concentrate/Syrup | $2.1M | 9.9 |
Rfg Lemonade | $280.7M | 22.3 |
Rfg Orange Juice | $2.4B | -4.5 |
Rfg Pineapple Juice | $13.4M | -3.2 |
Rfg Vegetable Juice/Cocktail | $37.6M | 20.7 |
52 WEEKS ENDING JUNE 13, 2010 | DOLLAR SALES | % CHANGE FROM LAST YEAR |
---|---|---|
Supermarkets | $4.1B | -0.9 |
Drug | $69.8M | 6.6 |
F/D/Mx | $4.3B | -0.4 |
CALENDAR YEAR | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 |
---|---|---|---|
DOLLAR SALES | |||
Supermarkets | $4.2B | $4.2B | $4.2B |
Drug | $57.3M | $64.0M | $68.1M |
F/D/Mx | N/A | $4.4B | $4.3B |