Healthy Soft Drinks : Shoppers Survey

Ulster Marketing Surveys, In conjunction with Ulster Grocer, February 2000

It is well recognized that consumers are increasingly concerned with health issues and food, sometimes with dramatic impact on purchasing behaviour. This issue extends to soft drinks, and to put some perspective on shopper behaviour and motivations, Ulster Marketing Surveys conducted research amongst a representative sample of housekeepers on the 17th and 18th February. The survey involved 200 CATI interviews, each with the person responsible for household shopping at randomly selected households throughout Northern Ireland.

Soft drink markets are complex, including fizzies as well as squashes, cordials and mineral water and also extending to a diverse range of packaging for in-home and outside consumption. Accordingly, the research focused on a particularly important sector, namely the range of "diet" fizzy soft drinks.

At the outset, respondents were invited to indicate which of eight main brands of diet fizzy soft drinks they had purchased in the last four weeks for consumption at home. The very high generic penetration of these brands was evident, effectively half having bought at least one brand: the sector is dominated by Diet Coca Cola, having been purchased by almost four in ten, the only other two brands achieving more than 10% penetration being Diet Club Orange (13%), and Diet Fanta (10%).

It was interesting to note that these "diet" penetration levels were very similar to the penetration levels of their "standard" equivalents.

The reasons underlying the specific choice of any of the "diet" fizzies was revealing: the most frequently expressed reason was simply that the taste was preferred, with shoppers indicating for example that they found the "standards" too strong in taste or "cloying". This finding therefore suggests that not only are the "diet" soft drinks not at a particular taste disadvantage, but indeed that they may have established a specific consumer preference in these terms. That the diet fizzies are in vogue was further reinforced by the number of shoppers who said that they were a 'fad' with their children.

Health related reasons were also very high on the list, and it was found that weight control seemed much more prevalent than issues related to the sugar content. 27% said that they had bought the diets because of the lower calorie content or that they themselves were over-weight, compared to 13% who referred specifically to sugar, and in particular the issue of dental corrosion.

Other specific health features were also important and these included diabetes, and hyper-activity amongst children.

Housekeepers of course, purchased on behalf of the whole household, but it was found that 75% of them acknowledged that they themselves would participate in the consumption of any diet fizzy soft drinks which they bought.

The ratio between "planned" purchasing, and "impulse" purchasing revealed a high degree of planning: 56% said that the diet fizzy soft drinks had been on their shopping list before leaving home, compared to 44% who said that they had only decided to make a purchase whilst actually in the shop. Of these latter, the most prevalent prompt was special offers and promotions, followed by the desire to try something different. Also playing a role, but someway behind the two main reasons for impulse buying, was the diet brand's visibility and shelf positioning within the store.

Towards the end of the interview, respondents were also provided with an opportunity to state which of a more general (but not universal) range of "healthy" soft drinks they had purchased over the past year.

The highest penetration was enjoyed by Del Monte pure juices purchased by 37%, followed closely by Lucozade (34%), and Five Alive (33%). Someway behind these and purchased by 18% in each case were Caledonian Clear, Red Bull and Del Monte Fruit Burst. Four other brands bought by just over one in ten housekeepers were Irn Bru (13%), Britvic 55 (12%), Tropicana (11%), and Britvic (10%).