Thailand's soft drink market grew by 16% from September 2022 to August 2023, compared with low single-digit growth over the past five years, attributed to the resumption of active operations by food service restaurant operators.
The El Niño phenomenon, which led to a prolonged period of hot weather this year, has attracted new consumers of soft drinks and encouraged existing consumers to consume soft drinks more often, said Suporn Denpaisarn, director of the marketing office for the non-alcoholic beverage business line at Thai Drinks Co in Thailand. Thai Drinks is the distributor of est cola.
Cola manufacturers have also resumed aggressive promotional activities, coinciding with a more favourable tourism outlook in the country, while Thais have resumed spending more time outside their homes.
"We observed an increase in demand across various packaging formats for cola drinks, and this demand was not limited to just the summer season. This persisted even during the off-peak seasons due to the extended duration of hot weather compared to last year," said Ms Suporn.
She cited market research from AC Nielsen that notes that the value of Thailand's soft drink market during the first eight months this year stood at 62 billion baht, equivalent to 2.1 billion litres. This represented a 16% increase year-on-year and a significant gain from 50 billion baht recorded during the corresponding period in 2019.
Ms Suporn said est cola achieved the highest sales growth, soaring by 22.6% from September 2022 to August 2023, surpassing the industry's growth rate of 16%. In terms of volume, the market share for the est brand has expanded to 9.1% as of August 2023, up from 7% during the corresponding period in the previous year.
Furthermore, est brand's top-of-mind awareness rose to 18%, a substantial increase from 6% recorded in the previous year. There is an opportunity to convert customers who consume competing brands into loyal est customers, she said.
With dry, hot weather forecast for parts of 2024, coupled with the government's economic stimulus campaigns, the company has an optimistic outlook for the cola soft drink market in the next year.
As part of its growth strategy, the company plans to allocate 200 million baht to promote the consumption of the est brand among consumers categorised as Gen Z in its fiscal 2024, which runs from Oct 1, 2023 to Sept 30, 2024.
To engage with the Gen Z audience, the company plans to allocate 80 million baht for collaborations with renowned music partners, including A-Time, the organiser of a music competition, and GMM Show, a leading music event organiser in the country, to present two music events, namely "Est Cola Presents Hotwave Music Awards 2023" and "Est Cola Presents Monster Music Festival 2023" across various genres to provide a platform for Gen Z music enthusiasts to express their unique identities.
Some 40% of est brand consumers fall within the Gen Z age range (15-24). Using these campaigns, the company aims to further engage with Gen Z and attract a larger Gen Z customer base.
Additionally, the company is launching the est cola Monster can package, along with premium collectable items from October to December 2023.