Soft drinks continue to be the shining light in the convenience sector, with fresh figures from Talysis pointing to a strong start to 2026 after a standout 2025.
While convenience as a whole fell 1.7% YOY in 2025, soft drinks, confectionery and alcohol were the only major categories to deliver meaningful value growth, with soft drinks the clear winner across value, volume and category share.
In 2025, soft drinks accounted for 17.5% of total convenience value sales, up 1.5%, underlining the category’s role in driving footfall, impulse purchase and overall store performance. Impulse missions represented 78.6% of all soft drinks sales, up 0.9 year on year, while take home continued to decline.
Momentum has carried into 2026. For the year to 1 March 2026, soft drinks held a 16.4% value share of convenience sales versus 15.4% a year earlier. Over the same period, impulse grew +5.9% in value and +2.1% in volume, while take home showed signs of recovery at +7.1% in value and +1.2% in volume.
A large share of category growth is being driven by sports & energy. In 2025, the sub‑category accounted for 42.4% of soft drinks value, ahead of carbonates at 29.5%, which declined year on year. Within sports & energy, Monster delivered the fastest growth (+£92m) and featured in half of the top 20 lines, while Red Bull appeared in six of the Top 20, including the top three bestselling SKUs.
Sports & energy has accelerated again in 2026. Year to date (to 1 March 2026), the sub‑category’s share of soft drinks stands at 44.4% versus 42.6% in the same period last year, while carbonates have eased to 29%. That equates to £254m in sports and energy sales year to date versus £230m last year, as the segment continues to outpace the wider category.
New product development remains a key growth lever. Limited editions and flavour launches kept the aisle lively in 2025, with Monster accounting for three of the top six NPDs. Based on rate of sale and distribution in UK convenience, the five standout launches were: Monster Lando Norris, Monster Rio Punch, Monster Ruby Red, Lucozade Sport Jude Ice Kick, and Dr Pepper Zero Sugar Cherry Crush.
Within carbonated soft drinks, Coca‑Cola retained the largest value share at 29.5% in 2025, although this was down 0.4%. Health‑leaning choices gained ground, with Dr Pepper Zero the fastest‑growing brand in carbonates (+1.2%). The trend was echoed by growth in the water (+0.7%) and health & lifestyle (+0.3%) sub-categories. Beyond traditional soft drinks, brands such as Huel and Starbucks also saw good growth as shoppers sought ‘on‑the‑go’ options.
‘Convenience 2025: A review of the year in UK Convenience’ is based on EPoS data from thousands of independent and symbol‑group convenience stores across the UK, providing full barcode and transactional insight and highlighting a polarised market in which growth clusters around specific missions and categories.
