Abstract
Euromonitor International' s Soft Drinks in Japan market report offers a
comprehensive guide to the size and shape of the market at a national level.
It provides the latest retail sales data, allowing you to identify the sectors
driving growth. It identifies the leading companies, the leading brands and
offers strategic analysis of key factors influencing the market - be they new
product developments, packaging innovations, economic/lifestyle influences,
distribution or pricing issues. Forecasts illustrate how the market is set to
change.
Why buy this report
- Get insight into trends in market performance
- Pinpoint growth sectors and identify factors driving change
- Identify market and brand leaders and understand the competitive
environment
Product coverage
Asian speciality drinks; Bottled water; Carbonates; Concentrates;
Fruit/vegetable juice; Functional drinks; RTD coffee; RTD tea
Executive summary
Sales revitalised by premium and healthy products
Following on from stagnancy in 2006, soft drinks returned to strong volume and
current value growth in 2007. This was chiefly due to strong innovation, with
a particular focus on premium ingredients and healthy soft drinks. Within
carbonates, for example, low calorie cola carbonates fuelled revived growth,
while within fruit/vegetable juice 100% juice was largely responsible for
strong growth. Bottled water also notably benefited from this trend, with
health-conscious consumers attempting to increase their everyday water
consumption.
New product development crucial to maintaining sales growth
The most dynamic growth across soft drinks was seen for flavoured bottled
water in 2007, with this largely due to the launch of Volvic Fruits Kiss. This
offered flavoured French mineral water at a price considerably lower than that
of Perrier and dramatically boosted awareness of and interest in flavoured
bottled water. In contrast, product areas that saw little new product
development generally declined in 2007. Energy drinks, speciality regular
cola, carbonated RTD tea and powder concentrates saw little innovation and
thus all experienced sales decline in 2007. With an increasing number of
brands competing for consumer attention in soft drinks, promotion and
innovation is increasingly important to maintaining sales growth.
Strong leaders invest in maintaining share
Coca-Cola and Suntory are the two leading players in soft drinks and continued
to invest heavily in marketing and new product development in 2007. However,
they struggled to hold on to their share, as a high number of new launches
resulted in growing competition. In contrast, third ranked Kirin Beverage Corp
saw a good growth in share, thanks to its increased production capacity. The
company began to utilise parent company Kirin Brewery' s production facilities
in the last two years of the review period, dramatically increasing production
and thus sales.
Frequent launches focused on chained retailers
The strong new product development seen in 2007 required an effective platform
in order for launches to attract a wide range of consumers. Consequently, most
players focused on chained supermarkets/hypermarkets and convenience stores in
order to launch new products and brand extensions. As a result, these channels
notably widened the range of soft drinks on offer and thus gained sales share.
Consumers were in turn attracted by the wide range, convenience and price
promotions offered by these channels.
Steady growth for forecast period
The strong growth seen in 2007 is not expected to be maintained during the
forecast period. Players capitalised on the strong health and wellness trend
and growing demand for premium products towards the end of the review period,
benefiting growth. However, the growing maturity of soft drinks will prevent
this growth from continuing. Competition is also expected to hinder unit price
growth during the forecast period, with softer constant value than volume
growth as a consequence.
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