US energy-drink brand Celsius Holdings said it sees most opportunity for growth in the convenience channel, citing “cold availability” as “key to success”.
PepsiCo-backed Celsius plans to invest in branded, chilled cabinets in US retailers in 2024, having bought 10,000 worth $10.5m in 2023.
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The comments came as the company posted record earnings for its full year 2023, with revenue up 102% to $1.32bn and up 95% in the fourth quarter to $347m, driven by sales in North America.
Speaking to investors following the company’s full-year results yesterday (29 February), John Fieldly, chairman and CEO, said: “The biggest opportunity for us is in convenience.
“We’ve built this brand, going through the variety of channels, and the biggest opportunity is in convenience where you have got 56/57% of all sales.
“So that’s where we anticipate the biggest resets to take place, in the coming resets.
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By GlobalData“Right now, in the convenience channel, we are just at a 10(%) share. So, we’re really excited about the opportunities you have there. Versus if you look at the food category, we’re roughly around a 16(%) share within the energy category.”
Fieldly said the availability of chilled Celsius energy drinks was “key” to the brand’s growth and added eye-level placements in shops were “critical”.
The net value of Celsius’s coolers more than doubled from $9.9m in 2022 to $21.9m in 2023.
“It’s a big initiative we’ve had over the years trying to get more cold placement,” Fieldly said. “Cold availability is key to success in order to compete in the energy category, especially with the impulse purchases.
“That is the biggest opportunity for us. When we look at the convenience channel, that impulse purchase is key to the success of where we want to go and who we want to be in the category.
“We are investing in more coolers, we’re working on placing more coolers. We want to be right at checkout. Eye-level is critical.
“We’re again talking to a variety of retailers as well to gain additional checkout coolers. I think that’s a big opportunity.
“Most recently down in south Florida… and we’re looking to gain additional checkout coolers on the next reset.”
The company also touted the potential of e-commerce – the brand was the highest-selling energy drink on Amazon in 2023 with a 19.7% share of the category, ahead of Monster Beverage (19.6%) and Red Bull (12.3%).
“We continue to drive further revenues through that [Amazon] channel. It is an omni-channel world and that’s something we really focus on here at Celsius,” Fieldly said.
The company also nodded to international expansion in 2024 but would not be drawn on specific countries beyond its recent deals.
Last month, Celsius announced it was entering the UK and Ireland through a distribution deal with Suntory Beverage & Food. Fieldly said the company expects sales to “begin gradually” in Q2 in the region.
It also launched in Canada through PepsiCo in mid-January and said the country “should be a great market”. The move marked the group’s first “major” international launch since PepsiCo took an 8.5% stake in Celsius in 2022.
