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Tips on grab-and-go sales

When a packaging format is consumer preferred, why not listen to the experts who know how to capitalize on this preference?

Pw 54177 Total Portability Portrait

Remember when the impulse-purchase racks at the grocery store only offered toys, gum, and celebrity gossip magazines? Now single-serve beverage coolers are taking up sizeable real estate “front-of-store” at grocers, convenience stores, drug stores, mass merchandisers, and more thanks to a strong and seemingly universal demand for a wide range of grab-and-go drinks.

Sales figures prove the point. Companies attuned to the convenience trend reaped high rewards last year. Grab-and-go packaged beverages yielded growth of 6% in traditional stores and 11% in the convenience channel in 2012—both significantly outpacing the beverage category as a whole, which grew at 2.6%, according to estimates by IRI, the research and consulting firm covering the retail and healthcare industries.

But these figures also offer clues about how to tap into this trend. Here are what beverage producers and marketers should keep in mind when formulating new products.

• Combine hydration and nutrition
It’s not just the usual soda suspects jockeying for position in the coolers. The most impressive growth is in on-trend nutritional beverages that include coconut water and ready-to-drink tea, juices, and energy drinks. Convenience isn’t enough; consumers are also clamoring for beverages with benefits—be it health or lifestyle-enhancing properties—to play to their on-the-go lifestyles. For example, the single largest category, energy drinks and shots, has grown into a nearly $7 billion business by some estimates—a full third of the beverage market as a whole by IRI figures. Coconut water, which is naturally electrolyte-rich, is making significant inroads as a sports recovery drink.

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