Juiced up
The market for juice smoothies and shots is booming. But who’s drinking these, and why?
In a time when soft drinks are taxed for their sugar content and young people are cutting back on booze, it’s no surprise that the fruit juice sector is booming.
Indeed, juice bars have edged from perceived fad towards mainstream acceptance, and UK retailers now stock an ever increasing variety of exotic options, like smoothies and shots.
But what do people really think about this trend — and what’s being missed by brands? Our users — or bees — in the UK told us how they felt, in research we shared with our friends at The Grocer for their special report.
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Going bananas
First things first: this is a huge market. Nearly 4 in 5 of our bees (79%) have a juice smoothie a few times a month, while nearly 2 in 5 (38%) have one a few times a week. There also isn’t much deviation between age groups, with older bees drinking smoothies slightly less, but only just.
What does separate the generations though is enthusiasm. Young people (18–25s) are keener on almost every aspect of smoothies, from taste through to health benefits, than those in a later stage in life. The only thing over-45s prefer is that smoothies are less messy than eating normal fruit:
And as a result, young people say they are more likely to drink juice smoothies at almost every possible occasion, from breakfast to exercise to when they feel unwell:
“I drink them because it’s better than other drinks, such as Coke. And it’s a healthy option for breakfast rather than eating toast with butter. I love my fruit juice!” said a 25-year-old woman.
Or as a woman (28) said: ‘Smoothies are way better than juices, because you get all parts of the fruit, whereas in juices it’s mostly the sugar and no fibre.”
So why don’t older people like to drink smoothies more?
Pear pressure
Well, it’s not because they don’t believe in the health benefits. In fact, it’s the opposite — older people are even more likely to believe that the drinks are good for them:
What’s more, over 4-in 5 over-45s say health benefits are important to them when choosing a smoothie — more than any other age group. So what’s going on here?
The answer is simple: each age group is looking for quite different health benefits. For example, younger people want drinks that give them energy, boost their immune system, and help them concentrate or exercise.
And while our older bees are also somewhat interested in these, they’re comparatively much keener on more age-appropriate concerns like anti-aging or gut health:
And when it comes to specific ingredients, we find a similar split. Younger bees are more interested in protein and green tea, while for older bees it’s all about vitamin C and probiotics:
Wrap this all together, and it’s clear that while everyone wants a smoothie, the needs of different cross-sections from that drink are actually quite different — and it’s the younger generation who are happier with what they are getting right now.
So is there low-hanging fruit (sorry) within this sector for brands: older bees, who are looking for products with health benefits specifically tailored to their needs, but don’t currently know where to look?
After all, when we asked our bees if they’d be interested in juice shots — short versions of juicy smoothies — it was our older bees who were keenest. This indicates that they do want the health benefits of smoothies, but their tastes aren’t quite being catered to yet — and in fact they’d like to get the experience of drinking one over as quickly as possible.
Although this finding does also point to the other issue our data reveals…
Sour grapes?
Coming back to the start, we’ve already seen that older people simply don’t like the taste of smoothies as much as younger people.
However, across the board, our bees were concerned one aspect of how they taste — the amount of sugar in juices and smoothies. In fact, 3 in 4 of them said this was a worry for them, while a smaller set of people also worried about the pre-packaged element removing the fibre and other goodness from the drink.
“They’re too concentrated, especially with regards to the sugar, and lack in fibre compared to eating the whole fruit,” said one 46-year-old man.
“The amount of sugar involved in making them counteracts the health benefit. So many parents feed their children fruit juices and smoothies thinking they’re a healthier alternative to fizzy pop, when really it’s causing just as much damage to their teeth,” said a 19-year-old woman.
One result of this concern? Even though the sugar content in smoothies is a natural product of including lots of fruit, a huge proportion of people are still circumventing shop-bought drinks and making their own smoothies. While 62% of our bees get their drinks from the supermarket, a stunning 57% told us that they also made their own.
Admittedly, it won’t be easy for brands to alleviate fears over the sugar content of their products while still producing drinks that do everything consumers want them to do and also taste great! However, our findings show that for anyone who gets the approach right, the opportunity stands to take a big slice out of the market.
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A quick word on our methodology: The figures in the article are taken from Streetbees community members in the UK, carried out in Jan/Feb 2019. All of the data was collected by mobile and web surveys, and is accurate to within 3 percentage points 19 times out of 20.
Want to play around with the data yourself? The dashboard is here: use the username smoothies@streetbees.com, password: analytics.
