Retail sales of ready-to-drink cold coffee in cans in Russia in the first quarter recovered after a decline last year, caused by the disappearance of Western brands from the shelves. According to NielsenIQ data, sales of this product increased by 159.3% from January to March. This was influenced by the launch of Russian brands, including own-label brands of chains, as well as the stabilization of supply through transit countries of Starbucks products, which led in sales in the Russian retail market three years ago.
Sales of ready-to-drink cold coffee in offline Russian retail chains in the first quarter of 2024 increased by 159.3% year-on-year after a 64.4% decline the previous year, according to NielsenIQ data provided to “Kommersant”. In terms of volume, the increase was 83.7% after a 40% drop the previous year.
In SberMarket, users ordered ready-to-drink cold coffee almost 2.5 times more often in the first quarter than the previous year, a company representative told “Kommersant”. At Azbuka Vkusa, they say that sales not only returned to previous levels after a decline in 2023, but also increased.
The decline in sales of cold coffee in cans in 2023 was due to the complete disappearance of Starbucks products from assortments of chains, which dominated the segment, according to Azbuka Vkusa. The American coffee chain stopped shipments to Russia in March 2022 due to the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and in May of the same year announced its exit from the Russian market.
Now other foreign manufacturers have become the leaders in sales in the cold coffee in cans segment. For example, according to NielsenIQ data for the first quarter of 2023, the South Korean Lotte Group (Let’s be brand) took first place in sales volume, the newcomer Turkish Dimes (Obsesso brand) took second place, and Starbucks dropped to tenth place. The Swiss Innoprax (Lattesso brand) and Austrian Ennstal Milch (Landessa) left this list. Analysts do not provide specific numbers for these manufacturers.
Since the beginning of 2024, the recovery of sales of cold coffee in cans has been facilitated by the appearance of analogs, including under retailers’ own brand names, according to Azbuka Vkusa. Replacing departed major players with several local brands has expanded the assortment, leading to increased sales, confirmed a source among cold coffee manufacturers to “Kommersant”.
The NielsenIQ ranking of the best-selling brands for the first quarter of 2024 also includes local products – Slasty Story from the company “Slasti” from Shlisselburg (Leningrad region) and Natura Selection from “Natura Pro”, which announced the start of production of milk coffee drinks over a year ago. The director of the company Mikhail Lyasko previously stated that sales of this product have been growing by 40% annually for the past three years. SberMarket noted a 20% increase in the assortment of cold coffee in the first quarter year-on-year.
According to NielsenIQ, sales in this category under the “Green Line” – private label brands of the Perekrestok network (part of the X5 Group) – increased in January-March 2024. According to a representative of the network, sales of cold coffee in cans for the incomplete month of May 2024 compared to August 2023, when sales just started, increased by 56%.
At the same time, Starbucks, which had left, began to return to the shelves of Russian stores. This product is available at Azbuka Vkusa, whose representative told “Kommersant” that the drink is imported in parallel. The popularity of cold coffee is mainly growing among young people, says Alexei Popovichev, CEO of Rusbrand.
In the medium term, the demand growth will continue, which, according to Mikhail Burmistrov, CEO of Infoline-Analytics, “will be facilitated by the expansion of assortment of this high-margin product by manufacturers and retailers”. This is happening against the backdrop of a decreasing interest in classic coffee in retail (see Kommersant from April 17): the only noticeably growing category here is soluble coffee in sachets.