Magazine: Flavour preservers

Nikoletta Buzder-Lantos
marketing manager
FÁÜ

Carbonated soft drink sales grew by two-digit numbers in 2017, primarily due to the excellent performance of cola products. Nikoletta Buzder-Lantos, marketing manager of Fővárosi Ásványvíz- és Üdítőipari Zrt. (they are present in the cola market with Pepsi products) told our magazine that their brands managed to increase their value share in the segment of flavoured soft drinks too. She talked to us about the premiumisation process that is taking place in the market, and mentioned the increased demand for sugar-free and low-calorie soft drinks.

Gábor Ivády
commercial excellence leader
Coca-Cola HBC Magyarország

Gábor Ivády, commercial excellence leader of Coca-Cola HBC Magyarország Kft. highlighted the fact that volume sales of carbonated soft drinks jumped 2.9 percent in 2017 (say the data from hyper- and supermarkets bigger than 400m²). Coca-Cola’s sales got 5.4 percent better in volume and improved by 9.3 percent in value.

Bálint Jencs
marketing manager
Aquarius-Aqua

According to Bálint Jencs, marketing manager of Aquarius-Aqua Kft., technically flavoured mineral waters also belong to the soft drink category. The company increased its market share in this segment, staying the market leader. Adrienn Horváth, marketing director of Márka Üdítőgyártó Kft. told our magazine that today there are 26 SKUs in the company’s carbonated soft drink portfolio and the combined sales of these were up 5 percent in both value and volume. Barbara Teimel, marketing manager of Fruitful-Company Kft. informed us that consumer demand for their products is gradually rising. This is the result of consumers paying more attention to living healthy than before.

Gábor Halász
brand manager
Maspex Olympos

Gábor Halász, brand manager of Maspex Olympos Kft. announced to us that their raspberry, elder and grapefruit soft drinks became market leaders in their own flavour groups.

HELL ENERGY Magyarország Kft. is of the opinion that the cola flavour dominates the Hungarian market. Commercial director Tamás Jenei revealed that the can-format XIXO product’s appearance added something new to the market, and consumers welcomed the new format. XIXO soft drinks are made with stevia and fructose.József Nemes, the owner of Vacer Trade Kft. revealed to us that they think: the 2.5-litre product size will only stay alive in the co-brand and first-price categories. In the next few years 1.5-2.25-litre products will do well volume sales-wise. Mr Jencs added that being Hungary’s leading private label product manufacturers, their experience is that cola and orange are still the most popular soft drink flavours in the fist-price segment.

Ms Buzder-Lantos called our attention to the significant share of large-sized products in sales. Sales of carbonated soft drinks bigger than 2 litres are driven by lower-priced B brands or private label products. Among sales channels hyper- and supermarkets are dominant, but sales grew in discount supermarkets last year. In 2017 volume sales of Coca-Cola zero products augmented by about 15 percent.

Barbara Teimel
marketing manager
Fruitful-Company

Ms Teimel told our magazine that sales of Fruitful-Company Kft.’s products developed the fastest in the petrol station channel. Packaging-wise the popularity of 0.5-litre PET bottle grew the most.

Adrienn Horváth
marketing director
Márka Üdítőgyártó

Ms Horváth from Márka Üdítőgyártó Kft. talked to us about the successful launch of 2.5-litre products and the strengthening of the Márka Zéró (formerly Fitt) range by more than 20 percent – both of these contributed to the company’s realising considerable sales growth in hyper- and supermarkets.

This March two new products came out in the Coca-Cola product line: zero-calorie Lemon and caffeine-free Coca-Cola zero. The latter’s target is mainly home consumption. In addition to these, the Fanta and Sprite product lines are also launching special new flavours this year. In 2018 Aquarius-Aqua Kft. is concentrating on the QUEEN brand, as new flavours will hit the shops in 2.5-litre size, plus smaller products will also appear on store shelves, in already existing and classic Hungarian new flavours, made with real fruit juice. The company revamps the brand’s image and changes the logo a bit. In 2017 consumers purchased 2 bottles of 2.5-litre QUEEN soft drinks on average. The brand, which has existed since 1986, plans to appear in completely new product categories this year.

Ms Buzder-Lantos spoke to our magazine about how Fővárosi Ásványvíz- és Üdítőipari Zrt. launched the zero-calorie version of Pepsi in early 2018. Two new cola flavours entered the market, Lime and Wild Cherry. Many opinion leaders have joined the company’s promotional campaign to popularise the exciting new flavours.This year a new product will be added to the Mirinda portfolio too. Blood orange tasting Mirinda Vérnarancs is going to hit the shops in two sizes.

Ms Horváth informed our magazine that at the end of 2017 and in early 2018, when production started in the new factory, the whole product assortment went through a complete overhaul, from bottle design to labels to recipes. At the moment the company is busy developing new flavours – the kind of flavours that target so-called ‘daring’ consumers.

Tamás Jenei
commercial director
HELL ENERGY Magyarország

Last year HELL ENERGY Magyarország Kft. launched 250ml carbonated soft drinks – XIXO Lemon, Orange and Cola, plus sugar-free Cola Zero products. In April these soft drinks appear on store shelves in 1.5-litre PET bottle variant too. Mr Jenei opines that the successful debut of the can version proved that consumer demand is high for XIXO’s carbonated soft drink portfolio.

This spring Fruitful-Company Kft. is putting Almdudler Raspberry on the market, in 0.5-litre and 1.5-litre sizes. Besides Almdudler Original and Almdudler Sugarfree, natural raspberry juice containing Almdudler Raspberry will also be present on the shelves of Hungarian shops. Its natural characteristics, stylish design and refreshing taste will make it a real treat to thirsty consumers.

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Vacer Trade Kft. introduced three new product lines to the market in 2017. After the flavoured mineral water market, with mineral water brand Sun Aqua they entered the lemonade category too, in three flavours. Mr Nemes informed that first-price POP! 2.5-litre sugar-free products are available in 11 flavours. Their medium-priced Mega Cola’s Classic version can be found in shops since April. Mr Halász from Maspex Olympos Kft. told us that they continue the communication campaign they started in 2017 for Apenta carbonated soft drinks, which are made from natural mineral water. The product portfolio is so big that basically everyone can find a flavour they like. This year the brand plans strong presence in social media and other modern platforms. //