Carbonated soft drinks are a popular category for Irish shoppers, with Coca-Cola taking the crown as Ireland’s top brand in the Checkout Top 100 Brands for 2023.
It’s no surprise, with alcohol consumption falling and the cost of living rising. Consumers are taking more comfort than ever in simple luxuries and taking an interest in their wellness, which, for some, means swapping alcohol with another option.
It is also a category with some of the highest brand loyalty – everyone is familiar with ordering a branded soft drink and being asked if an alternative is OK.
What’s in a name? For these brands, an awful lot.
Carbonated soft drinks are the second-ranked category in the Checkout Top 100 Brands, retaining their spot from last year.
The pandemic had given the category a bump up the rankings in 2021 – it moved from its fourth-place position in 2020 to the second-place spot that it holds today.
Published every August, the Checkout Top 100 Brands is based on branded value sales across the Irish grocery sector, making it the most accurate barometer of the biggest-selling brands in the marketplace.
In compiling the report, NIQ Ireland measures the sales performance of over 5,000 brands from over 200 product classes.
Top Five Soft-Drink Brands
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Coca-Cola (All Variants)
The number-one soft drink and number one in overall brands, Coca-Cola retains both spots from last year. The world-renowned brand has maintained its spot by continuously evolving – with activation campaigns to engage audiences – while maintaining a reliable, high-quality product.
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7UP
Also retaining its spot from last year on both lists – number two for soft drinks, and nine in overall brands – 7UP is showing little indication of giving up its spot. Having aptly held the number-seven spot from 2010 until it fell to number eight in 2021, the drink slipped once more in 2022, to number nine, and it looks poised to stay there.
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Pepsi
Though falling two places since last year in the Top 100 Brands, to 13, Pepsi has held its title as the third most popular soft drink. Its consistency among soft drinks is no mean feat when considering the changes that it has gone through on the Brands list. In 2020, it climbed nine places, to 25, and then another nine in 2021, to number 16. It jumped a further five in 2022, to number 11, and fell by two spots this year, landing at number 13.
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Club
As Pepsi moved down the official rankings, so did Club, yet still holding its soft-drink spot at number four. Holding number 13 in Brands last year, it fell by five places this year, to number 18. It had previously climbed six places in 2021, to number 13, and held that spot in 2022. Produced in Ireland by Britvic, Club is committed to delicious drinks and sustainability, with 100% recycled packaging and a road map to reducing manufacturing emissions.
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Fanta
All of the top soft drinks made it into the top 50 of the Top 100 Brands, with Fanta rounding out the list at number 46. Though the lowest of the soft drinks, Fanta had an exceptional year jumping – incredibly – by 12 spots from number 58 last year, to its current position. The previous year, it leaped an impressive 23 places from the 81st position that it held in 2021. It had previously fallen from 65 in 2018 to 81 in 2021, more than making up for it in the past two years.
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