Mood Support Beverages Drive Innovation, Sales

Drinking to your health doesn’t mean what it used to. Functional beverages are hot. The health and wellness beverage market share stands at 39%, compared to 27% for the health and wellness total store market share, reported Brandon Casteel, vice president, solution sales at data provider SPINS, speaking Tuesday at SPINS’ booth 4663 during IFT FIRST.

Leading the pack are beverages formulated for mood support at 32%, cleanse and detox at 29.2%, digestive health at 28.3%, and cold and flu (relief) at 22.2%. Mood support refers to supplements intended to relieve symptoms of anxiety, depression, and stress.

“A lot of the innovation in functional beverages is in mood support,” said Casteel, adding that an impressive 40% of new functional beverages have mood support positioning.

Dollar sales for mood support beverages in U.S. multi-outlet retailers, convenience stores, and natural channel retailers hit $38 million for the past 52 weeks, up from $25 million two years ago, reported SPINS.

“This is what people want. They want beverages that make them feel better,” declared Casteel in a presentation titled, “A Thirst for Change: Beverage Innovations.”

Beverage sales growth is healthy, at 5% over the past two years, with non-alcoholic beverage growth besting that at 7%, Casteel reported.

And innovation in the category is strong, he added. “We track a really interesting metric, called the innovation ratio (that tracks) what percent of UPCs have been launched in the last 12 months. For beverages, it's 7%.”

In another interesting development, while beer category sales grew 1% over the past year, non-alcoholic beer sales rose 24%. “This is something consumers are saying is clearly important to them,” Casteel noted.

In addition, THC-infused beverage sales rose 690% over last year.ft