As the seasons change, fashion and tabloid magazines jump on the opportunity to highlight the latest fashion trends. In its latest white paper, Chicago-based Euromonitor International uses that same mentality for the beverage marketplace. Titled “Top 5 Beverage Industry Trends by Country in North and South America,” the white paper identifies major beverage trends in 15 countries.
For the United States, Euromonitor identified coconut water, tea pods, Fiji Water’s packaging, half-tea half-lemonade drinks, and SodaStream’s national attention as trends.
Regarding coconut water, the market research firm highlights the drink’s health properties, such as being a good source of electrolytes and potassium and its low number of calories. It also notes that while coconut water is still a novel product in the United States, it has been popular in Brazil and Southeast Asia for a number of years.
“The product has massive potential for growth as the benefits of coconut water are very much aligned with the health-and-wellness movement in the U.S.,” it states.
For tea pods, Euromonitor notes that Waterbury, Vt.-based Green Mountain Coffee Roasters is helping to expand the segment by maintaining licensing agreements with some of the tea category’s leading brands including Lipton, Celestial Seasonings, Bigelow and Snapple.
“Although still a small market in 2013, tea pods experienced the highest value growth of any hot drinks category,” it reports. “In addition to offering standard hot tea flavors such as Earl Grey and English Breakfast, many of the newest tea pods are positioned to be poured over ice to appeal to the large number of iced tea drinkers in the U.S.”
And as tabloids and blogging sites have forever changed the celebrity culture, we see celebrity status having an influence on the next trend highlighted by Euromonitor. After noticing many female celebrities drinking its water through a straw in order to prevent lipstick from smearing, Fiji Water introduced a straw cap for its bottled waters in April 2013.
Celebrity influence, though, isn’t anything new. Demonstrating its fourth trend, Euromonitor recalls the drink U.S. golfer Arnold Palmer kicked off many years ago when ordering a “Half & Half.” Dubbed by some as an “Arnold Palmer,” these half-tea half-lemonade drinks continue to grow in popularity, the market research firm says.
“The strong demand for Arnold Palmer-variant drinks is one reason why U.S. consumption of [ready-to-drink] tea is almost three times as high as the global average,” it states.
The last trend that Euromonitor identified for the beverage industry in the United States actually has as much to do with small appliances as it does with beverages. The market research firm notes that SodaStream garnered national attention when it aired an ad during last year’s Super Bowl, causing make-your-own carbonated soft drinks to become more popular.
To read more about these trends and those in other countries in North and South America, check out euromonitor.com.
