Soft-drink sales have been declining for nine straight years. This is much more than a trend——it"s a fundamental shift in consumer tastes that 1 a major problem for soda makers, no matter how 2 their product combination might be.
The latest numbers are astonishing, but not surprising. Sales of soda fell 3% 3 volume in 2013, to the lowest levels since 1995, 4 to a report from Beverage Digest issued on Monday. That would be a big 5 no matter what, and it"s more than double 2012"s decline. People are moving away from soda at a(n) 6 rate.
At this point, companies like Coca-Cola and Pepsico must be 7 not on what they"re doing to save their flagship brands, but on how well they"re 8 those brands" decline. Of course that"s not easy for companies that are named for those very brands, so they"re still crazily trying to 9 how to at least stop the losses, even as they wisely continue to invest in 10 like energy drinks, sports drinks, and flavored water.
Pepsico took measures such as trying a new bottle design and signing with Beyoncé, 11 sales have continued to decrease.
And the hoped-for savior of the business—diet drinks with 12 sweeteners—are no help. Up until a few years ago, sales of diet sodas were falling at about the same rate as the sugar-filled ones. Now they"re actually falling faster 13 consumers continue to hear about health 14 . Just yesterday, a study was released indicating that consumption of diet soda can 15 the risk of cardiovascu-lar disease in older women.
But health concerns are not the only problem. If they were, it would seem 16 that energy drinks, sports beverages, coffee-based beverages, and flavored waters would be taking up the slack. But they are. That"s a further 17 that what"s doing soda in is the increase of 18 in the beverage aisle, especially those 19 at young people, a growing number of whom think of Coke, Dr. Pepper, Sprite, and Pepsi—Beyoncé notwithstanding—— 20 the stuff their grandparents drank in the old days.