Beverage companies will diversify, in part to meet increasing demands for “individualism” among young consumers.
That’s a conclusion from a report on five trends that dominated the beverage industry in 2018, according to Jonathan Davison, an analyst for GlobalData. They are:
Company diversification. Carbonated soft-drink giants in particular are looking to shore up their portfolios against the declining popularity of CSDs. Davison cited Coca-Cola for “a wave of acquisitions across multiple industry sectors.”
Combating packaging waste. Davison referred to European efforts such as Starbucks imposing a “latte levy” of 5 pence on paper cups and Carlsburg developing a technology for bonding together beer cans without plastic rings.
Cannabis-infused drinks, marked by moves by Constellation Brands and Molson Coors into this market.
Plant-based drinks. GlobalData estimates that this category will have increased 5 percent by the end of 2018, due especially to growth of demand among non-vegetarians.
Individualism and self-tailoring. According to GlobalData, some 61 percent of consumers are interested in creating their own products. This will be possible through technologies such as Kolibri Drinks offering a syrup-based sweetener stored in the caps of some products, allowing consumers to control how much is added.
