Britvic: Soft drinks levy could be ‘biggest opportunity’ for many years

The soft drinks levy could be the biggest opportunity in the market for many years, if convenience stores and wholesalers get it right.

That was the message from Trystan Farnworth, speaking at the Better Wholesaling Summit earlier this month. “The biggest trend in soft drinks is the growth of no- or low-sugar options and consumers that buy no- or low-sugar drinks spend more overall,” he said.

Britvic aims to have 95% of its products under the levy  threshold before it is introduced in April 2018 by reformulating some of its brands.

The latest reformulation is on J20. The company is reducing the sugar by up to 36% on its core flavours and taking the sugar levels below 5g on its Spritz range. They will all contain 65 calories.

The company surveyed 6,500 customers to find out how best to pass the tax on.

“They told us they want to drink more low- and no-sugar drinks and want an added incentive to do that,” he said.

“Choice is important – if someone really wants to buy a full-sugar product then they are happy to pay extra for it.”