U.S. Beverage Market Outlook 2022: Inflation, Supply Chains, & Trends in Beverage Consumption

Beverage Market Outlook 2022: Inflation, Supply Chains, & Trends in Beverage Consumption

Most major beverage categories are mature and rely primarily on population growth, leaving marketers with the challenge of bringing something new to the table. Opportunities abound for companies that invest in new product launches, ingredient changes, and different marketing tactics to appeal to changing consumer preferences, including the wellness and plant-based areas but also flavor trends.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to sharply increased demand for beverages in the retail sector as consumption shifted from the foodservice industry to the home. Even as foodservice outlets reopened and vaccination rates rose, COVID-19 variants remained a concern along with rising food and gas prices due to inflationary pressure. Therefore, many consumers are continuing to spend more time at home compared to their pre-pandemic habits and more beverages were consumed at home. As a result, while demand on the retail side has continued to slow from the gains seen from 2019-2020, sales have remained elevated from pre-pandemic levels.

The pandemic cast a spotlight on – and in many cases accentuated – beverage industry trends that had been developing for several years. Consumer behavior was changed significantly, leading to unprecedented demand for products to meet basic needs, as well as items to satisfy changing lifestyles. Highlights include dairy alternatives, better tasting better-for-you beverages, reduced sugar/zero sugar content, hard beverage options, and sustainable packaging.

Historical and projected retail sales are presented in additional detail for beverages within these primary categories -- carbonated soft drinks, energy and sports drinks, bottled water (plain and enhanced), dairy beverages, dairy alternatives, juices, coffee, and tea. Additionally, the report has dozens of tables showcasing numerical survey data on consumer demographics and psychographics and numerous figures and images highlighting product and marketing trend examples. This report also goes in-depth on COVID-19 trends affecting the beverage market.

With a focus on growth opportunities and “what’s next” – along with bringing decades of food and beverage market perspective and analysis to the table – Beverage Market Outlook 2022: Inflation, Supply Chains, & Trends in Beverage Consumption is packed with actionable insights about consumer trends, behavior, and motivations. This report delivers predictions and recommendations designed to guide retailers, service providers, wholesalers, beverage suppliers and bottlers, packaging firms, and investors in making business decisions about the beverage market.

Scope

Combining Packaged Facts’ extensive monitoring of the food and beverage market with proprietary surveys, U.S. Beverage Market Outlook 2022 is the go-to source for a complete understanding of the U.S. packaged beverage market. This broad-based report evaluates current trends and future directions for marketing and retailing, along with consumer patterns across the food market.

U.S. Beverage Market Outlook 2022 focuses on the market for selected packaged beverage products sold to consumers in the United States through retail channels. All retail distribution channels are covered, including supermarkets and grocery stores, mass merchandisers and supercenters, warehouse clubs, specialty food stores, health/natural food stores, convenience stores, drugstores, dollar stores, vending machines, and direct sales channels such as online and mail order. Market size data are provided at the retail sales level for 2016-2021 and projections are provided for 2021-2026.

Report Methodology

The information contained in U.S. Beverage Market Outlook 2022 was developed from primary and secondary research sources.

Primary research included consultation with industry sources and visits to retail stores. Primary research also includes national online consumer polls of U.S. adult consumers (age 18+) conducted on an ongoing basis by Packaged Facts to analyze purchasing patterns and attitudes with regard to food and beverage preferences. Supplementing Packaged Facts’ exclusive survey is an extensive analysis of MRI-Simmons’ National Consumer Study, which is based on approximately 25,000 adult respondents surveyed annually.

Secondary research entailed gathering data from relevant trade, business, and government sources, as well as company promotional literature and annual reports. Estimates of market size and company performance are based on various sources, including reported revenues of product manufacturers and retailers, relevant publications, and other market research sources. The analysis in this report also draws, as a background source, on retail sales tracking data as available from IRI and Nielsen (for mass-market channels), and SPINS (for the natural channel).

This report contains dozens of numerical tables and charts, as well as numerous product photographs. Our estimates of market size and company performance are based on various sources including reported revenues of product manufacturers and retailers, relevant publications, and other market research sources. The analysis in this report also draws, as a background source, on retail sales tracking data from mass market and specialty channels.