Kyle Holloway
Spring Hill College
INTRODUCTION
Alternative beverages such as sports drinks, energy drinks, and vitamin-enhanced beverages developed into an important competitor for the beverage industry and saw rapid growth in the mid-2000s. Alternative beverages compete on the basis of differentiation from each other in the market and traditional drinks, such as carbonated soft drinks and fruit juices. The largest sellers of alternative beverages are the global food and beverage giants, such as Coca-Cola and PepsiCo., that have already built respected brands in snack foods, carbonated soft drinks, and fruit juices prior to joining the …show more content…
The dominating market shares held by innovative products in the alternative beverage industry makes the market very attractive for new entrants who can provide an innovative product to consumers.
Some companies in the alternative beverage industry have found success on capitalizing on consumer trends. The different types of beverages are affected differently with certain trends. For example, a recent consumer trend is health consciousness. With this trend, people are veering away from sugary, high caffeinated drinks and turning to healthier substitutes, such as vitamin-enhanced beverages and fruit juices. The beverage that was the hit the worst was carbonated beverages. As stated above, carbonated soft drinks consumption has been declining for the past couple of years. There was even a legal ban for companies to sell carbonated soft drinks in containers of thirty-two ounces or larger. This ban was overruled in New York but it is still a sign of how important this health consciousness is to the people. (Barr & Hajela, 2013) The giant conglomerates of carbonated soft drinks are trying to turn the spotlight somewhere else by expressing exercise and active lifestyles through marketing campaigns to combat obesity in the U.S. rather than banning soft drinks from the people. Energy drinks have a different problem only because of the nature of the product. The