The Sports Energy Drinks market in Poland, the Czech Republic & Hungary

Over the last few years the sports energy drinks market has exploded from being a closed shop to the likes of Red Bull to being full of supermarket own brands and third parties releasing unique flavors and innovations into the drinks market. While traditional energy drinks are the most popular flavors, in some parts of the world this trend may be changing ever so slightly.

Poland, in particular, is known for its love of traditional energy drinks. However, tropical and strawberry are becoming just as popular today with a huge wave of emphasis placed on the successful development and growth of these flavors. Because sports drinks are generally packaged in 0.5L PET bottles, the trend is for different packaging sizes and larger single bottles – in short, the market in Poland is rapidly changing.

The larger packages are better, many say, because of the ability to quench thirst for longer during the day. Additionally, larger packages are cheaper and everyone loves to save a little, so many people are buying the larger packages to save money and get extra volume in these countries.

The competitive landscape of energy drinks in Central Europe has changed massively. Although Red Bull owns roughly 17% of the market, its positioning is forever weakening as new brands hit the market. Consumers like the taste of cheaper brands and also the quality of the drink in general – and the cheaper price!

Rockstar and Monster today rival RB in the stakes for popularity in Poland and today are a huge influence on the drinks market in general. Because of aggressive and constant marketing from competitors, RB is beginning to lose its original name and prestige within the energy drinks market particularly in these three nations.

It’s expected that 2014 will continue to show a big improvement in the quality of energy drinks sales, after a disappointing 2013. With new brands entering the field and new flavors always appearing, there is more variety and style than ever within the niche which can make an incredible difference. As more natural products become increasingly popular, too, it’s easy to see the future of energy drinks being very much different within these nations.

Particularly in the Czech Republic, the change has been extremely noticeable. Red Bull, however, holds a firmer grip in the Republic than it does in the other nations as Czechs are more likely to respect a brand name that is longer established, according to various polls and studies, with Polish and Hungarian consumers more price conscious then Czechs. While other companies like Kofola run groundbreaking advertising campaigns, Red Bull has strengthened its position in the market and currently dominates ahead of Kofola, the main competitor within the region for Red Bull.

It’s expected that by 2018, sports energy drink sales will have increased by as much as 24 % within the Republic so it’s no surprise to see so many people working hard to try and take a dominant cut of the pie in the market! Energy drink sales are quite in the Republic compared with other nations, creating a nice contrast in comparison to what many people believed to be the case for quite some time.

In Hungary, however, the energy market has been in  slight decline since 2012. People don’t take kindly to products that are not so natural, and the bestselling products in Hungary were the natural energy drinks that cut back on the additives and other un natural extras. The likes of Burn and Monster make Coca-Cola the largest energy drinks firm within Hungary, with 17% of the market captured. Red Bull holds nowhere near the dominance that it could due to the dislike for sports energy drinks, hampering their chances of dominating the Hungarian market.

If manufacturers are able to change the negative image of sports and energy drinks in the Hungary then sales could improve, but at the moment this seems to be a long way away to change the image of Sports energy drinks in the country.
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CeSport Image from: Energy drinks cans  © heromen30 | Dreamstime.com