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The UK carbonated soft drinks market continued to be hampered by UPF concerns and cautious spending habits in 2024. A second consecutive year of poor summer weather also took its toll. Combined, this led to a -1.1% decline in value sales. However, a long-term growth is expected over the next few years.
Mintel’s consumer research finds that self-treating is the top usage driver for soft drinks. More surprisingly, hydration is on a par with self-treating, despite the consensus that water is more hydrating than other soft drinks. Exploring enhanced hydration offers ripe potential for CSDs to better cater to this need, given the strong appeal of CSDs with hydration-boosting ingredients.
Almost half of consumers say concerns over ultra-processed food/drink have made CSDs less appealing to them, presenting a significant challenge for the category. These concerns heighten worries about artificial sweeteners and bolster consumers’ willingness to pay more for CSDs that don’t contain these ingredients, for which there are growing opportunities. The rising use of real fruit juice in CSDs helps to assuage these concerns.
The alcohol moderation movement, which shows no sign of slowing down, is a boon for the CSDs market. To have these instead of an alcoholic drink is a leading motivation for drinking CSDs, cited by one in five drinkers. Beyond alcohol-inspired flavours, NPD around less sweet flavours, relaxing ingredients and different textures can play a key role in boosting CSDs’ appeal in this role. This can also be achieved by encouraging consumers to customise their CSDs with added ingredients.
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Every Mintel report is created by a dedicated analyst with deep expertise and experience in their chosen industry. So you can act with confidence, not assumptions. This report was written by Emma Clifford. Emma joined the Food and Drink team in June 2012 and is responsible for researching and writing food reports. Before joining Mintel, Emma worked as a marketing information analyst at Marketforce and gained retail experience from her time working as a fashion distributor at Debenhams head office.
More natural formulations are key to assuaging UPF concerns. Less sweet flavours, relaxing ingredients and textural NPD can boost CSDs’ role as alcohol replacements.
Emma Clifford
Associate Director – Food and Drink
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