At the company's investor day earlier this month, executives said Monster Energy's revenue reached $1.5 billion for the 13 weeks ending Dec. 30, 2023, up 2.2% year over year, while the company's announced that sales of its relatively new brand “Rain'' grew from a large base. was released five years ago, and during the same period, grossed $133.8 million, up 27.6% from the previous year. Inflation-driven price increases helped moderate changes in both rates, with year-over-year unit increases of 0.9% and 31.2%, respectively.
Rain's strong performance helped the company increase its dollar share by an additional 0.4% from the previous year, but Monster did not do as well, losing 1.6% of its dollar share over the same period.
Monster's losses are due to the highly competitive nature of the increasingly fragmented energy drinks market and the small number of competing brands targeting different user groups, such as Celsius, which saw a staggering 126.5% year-on-year sales growth. Reflecting strong profits. For the 13 weeks ending Dec. 30, the base is much smaller at $453 million. This sales increase was accompanied by a 115.8% increase in unit sales and a 4.6% increase in dollar share over the same period.
Other notable market share winners include C4 with 63% sales, 53.9% unit sales and 1% market share increase; and Ghost, whose dollar share increased by 0.8%. .
“It's very interesting to look at some of the new entrants into this category…We've seen sales flatten out over the last three to four months,” CEO Rodney Sachs noted. did. These include Starbucks Energy, which saw sales decline 15.8% and unit sales for the same period by 21%, according to Nielsen data across all measured channels for the 13 weeks ending December 30th, presented by Monster. % decrease, dollar share decreased by 0.7%.
Some established players such as 5 Hour also stalled, with its sales down 6.5%, unit sales down 8.1% and dollar share down 0.5%. According to the data, Rockstar saw sales decline by 4.8%, unit sales by 8.2%, and dollar share by 0.4%.
“Also worth noting is Bang, which was in constant decline until we bought the brand. It seems to be stabilizing,” Sachs said. In the 12 weeks ending Dec. 30, the company's revenue fell 63.1% from a year ago, and unit sales fell 64.3%, according to Nielsen data. The dollar share also decreased by 2.4%.
Monster boosts social media to drive in-store sales and increase sales and share
To regain lost market share and continue to grow sales and unit sales, the company will adjust its promotional efforts to put more emphasis on social marketing, Sachs said.
“We're putting more money into social media and we're going to grow that part of our marketing spend this year and going forward. It's becoming a bigger, more important part of Monster,” he said. Ta.
He admitted: “For some of the other brands, [social media] That's probably already the main part they're focusing on and communicating through. But social media has always been a small part of Monster. Now we're ramping it up on the Monster side. And of course, through our social media channels and realms, we're seeing more of Reign, Storm and Bang, and others. We will continue to support many of our brands.”
Looking to the future in the U.S., Sachs said the company will also focus on innovation and in-store execution in the first quarter.
“We believe there are a lot of low hanging fruit. We need to focus on and improve our execution,” he said.
For the second term, the company will focus on its Gear program, which it believes is in “high demand” and will receive a strong response from consumers, building on the success of its previous program a year ago.
The third semester will focus on the gaming community through a partnership with Call of Duty, and Sachs said, “This is going to be huge for us, and we're excited to have these partnerships on packs, stores, and promotions. “I believe it will work out,” he said. ”
More broadly, Monster Beverage Corporation is putting a brighter spotlight on its various product families to establish itself as independent brands, rather than primarily focusing on Monster Green as an all-encompassing umbrella. Sachs said he plans to hit the spot.
He explained that this strategy will help the company appeal more effectively to different consumer groups.
Innovation to balance zero sugar and full sugar
Innovation will also play a key role in driving growth in 2024, with the launch of a wide range of new flavors across the brand.
The company plans to launch or relaunch four SKUs within Monster, including Ultra Fantasy Ruby Red in its Zero Sugar line, Rio Punch in its Energy + Juice line, Irish Cream reformulation and Peaches in its Java Monster line. Crème flavor from the company's Full Sugar Reserve line.
“We believe there is still a large market for our full-calorie products. Everyone is focused on zero-carbohydrate, and not only Monster but also Reign are developing products for the zero-carbohydrate consumer. …However, we believe there is a market in the U.S., especially Central America, where consumers still want complete sugar products,” Sachs said, adding that the company is He said he would release Peach and Crème.
Staging bang comeback
Next year, Monster Beverage Corp. also plans to rebuild Bang's consumer base, which it recently acquired but “lost a lot of shelf space to” before that, Sachs said.
“We took over the brand. We streamlined it. We currently have 12 SKUs and are focused on what we consider to be the more core items of the Bang line. “It's something that we don't have a lot of competition for and we're going to focus on re-establishing those. This is who we are. We're doing it now,” he added.
