Soda sales in the US dropped for tenth straight year

Americans are buying less carbonated soft drinks, according to a new industry report. For the past decade soda consumption in the US has declined, with diet sodas losing popularity even faster than non-diet ones.

Last year soda sales dropped for the 10th straight year in the US as consumers appear to be opting for healthier alternatives.

An annual report by Beverage Digest revealed that overall soda volume fell by 0.9 percent last year. While across the entire beverage industry (including carbonated soft drinks) sales volume in 2014 climbed by 1.7 percent.

Coka and Pepsi sales both dropped by more than 1% in 2014

Coke and Pepsi both posted drops in volume, of 1.1 percent and 1.4 percent respectively.

Coke is still by far America’s most popular soft drink. However, Diet Coke suffered a steep decline and lost its number 2 position in the top 10 US soda rankings to Pepsi.

Monster Beverage was the best performer in the industry last year, followed by Red Bull, which posted a 5.6% increase. However, those brands have a market share of less than 2 percent.

Despite a fall in sales volume the soda industry is still generating plenty of money

Despite sales falling, the industry still generated more in 2014 than it did the year before because of higher pricing.

Beverage Digest said:

“Multiple senior executives at the big beverage companies have recently indicated that they are focusing strongly on dollar growth, using such tactics as package downsizing with higher per/ounce pricing,”

The American Beverage Association, which represents Coke and Pepsi, is working on trying to make diet drinks more popular again by funding studies showing the benefits of the drinks.

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Companies Ranked by LRB Volume 2014

1. Coca Cola Co – 33.6% share (-0.5)
2. PepsiCo – 25.4% share (-0.3)
3. Nestle Waters – 11.0% share (+0.7)
4. Dr Pepper Snapple – 10.7% share (-0.2)
5. Cott – 2.7% share (-0.2)
6. All other – 16.6% share (+0.5%)

Source: Beverage Digest

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