RTD Tea in Serbia

PROSPECTS

Carbonated RTD tea remains negligible

Only still RTD tea had significant sales in Serbia as of 2018. In fact, there was one carbonated RTD tea brand available – Kombucha by a local company Macrobiotic Prom – but its sales remained far from notable.

Volume decline continues, but change of growth direction in sight

Volume sales of RTD tea in Serbia have been declining ever since 2013 and the trend continued in 2018 as well although value sales recovered and started to grow again in 2017. These products have suffered from a poor reputation owing to their high sugar content and many consumers have switched to other soft drinks such as juice and especially flavoured bottled water.

Average sugar level of RTD tea significantly declines in 2018

RTD tea sales have been hampered in Serbia by the nascent health and wellness trend. This is because most of these products have contained very high sugar levels of 10g per 100ml and above.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

End of cooperation between Coca-Cola and Nestlé SA significantly changes competitive landscape

In January 2018, Coca-Cola and Nestlé ended their 16-year-long venture regarding the Nestea RTD tea brand. Coca-Cola immediately launched its own brand in the category called Fuze Tea and it quickly took over most of Nestea’s sales thanks to Coca-Cola’s mass marketing campaign for the new brand and also excellent distribution network.

Rebranding trend continues

Rauch Serbia doo and Jamnica doo renamed their RTD tea brands several years ago, and second-ranked domestic player Nectar doo did the same in 2018. The producer rebranded its Nectar Ice Tea to Chai Ice Tea and offered three different flavours – lemon, peach and forest fruits.

Marketing activities become more important

It seems that RTD tea products have never been as heavily advertised as was the case in 2018. This is hardly surprising though when one takes into consideration all the events that marked the category in 2018, especially the launch of new leader Fuze Tea.

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