(Food-Beverage-News.Com, October 26, 2016 ) Fusion beverages can be defined as the hybrid drinks produced by mixing a variety of beverages. Fusion beverage is an emerging category of functional food that gains high attention from the consumers who prefer beverages for not only quenching their thirst, but also for seeking the nutritional benefits. This has pushed the beverage makers to increase their focus towards healthy beverages, hence came up with the concept of fusion beverages that ensure health benefits without compromising on taste parameter. Protein-infused coffee, sparkling tea, fusion in floral, tea and coffee flavors are some of the examples of fusion beverages. The growth of fusion beverages market is driven by changing tastes and preferences of consumers along with the changing life-styles, supported by the ongoing development of unique flavors that enhances the taste and nutrition level of the fusion drinks.
Market Dynamics of Fusion Beverages:
Beverage makers are keen to bring innovations in terms of new ingredients and unique flavors that can serve consumer’s functional needs. With the decline of traditional sugary carbonated soft drink, beverage makers have come up with healthier drinks such as fruit based beverages, fortified water, energy drinks etc. The range of unique flavors and ingredient system added enhances the quality of fusion beverages. The growth of fusion beverages market is highly impacted by the increasing trend where companies are reformulating the ingredient’s content added to the fusion drinks to ascertain health benefits along with the taste. The need of reformulating ingredients raised with more consumers seeking for lower-calorie offerings. Also, the health and wellness trends across the globe have promoted the beverage companies to invest heavily in research & development activities to develop healthy fusion beverages. However the rise in energy and commodity price has caused a negative impact on the growth patterns of fusion beverage market. The increased price cause rise in the processing cost, transportation cost, and packaging cost, which ultimately adds to the overall cost of fusion beverages. The manufacturers usually refrain from passing the overall cost to the end consumer owing to their price sensitive nature.
Fusion Beverages market is segmented on the basis of category, product type, flavor, and distribution channel. On the basis of category fusion beverages includes carbonated beverages and non-carbonated beverages. Carbonated beverages segment is observed to acquire major share in the fusion beverages market. Fusion Beverages on the basis of product type, can be classified into regular soda, fruit drinks, flavored water, sports drinks, energy drinks, diet drinks, and others such as iced tea/coffee, light fruit juices. Flavored water is projected to witness high demand in the fusion beverages market. Fusion beverages market is further segmented on the basis of flavors into sweet, savory, salt, and mint. The sweet flavor of fusion beverages is expected to occupy high market share, while savory flavor is expected to grow at a rapid pace in the fusion beverages market. On the basis of distribution channel, fusion beverages market can be segmented into supermarket/hyper market, convenience stores, drug stores, and others such as direct selling, mass merchandisers etc.
Regional Outlook of Fusion Beverages:
On the basis of geographical market segment, Fusion Beverages is segmented into seven different regions: North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and Asia-Pacific region, Japan and Middle East and Africa. Asia-Pacific region is expected to be lucrative market for fusion beverages propelled by growing population, rising disposable income, increased popularity of flavored drinks. Majority of leading manufacturers in the fusion beverages market target the emerging economies like China and India to expand their revenue base. On the other side in terms of consumption, U.S. is expected to lead in the global fusion beverages followed by European regions. With large number of people becoming more health conscious and demanding a variety of flavors in beverages, it is expected that the fusion beverages market will grow at rapid pace in the beverages industry.
Fusion beverages market is fragmented with the presence of large number of players. The focus of market players have shifted towards bringing a differentiation factor in the beverages portfolio by innovating in terms of variety of flavors and taste. Key players in the fusion beverages market include Fusion Beverage Co. Ltd., Campbell Soup Co., The Coca Cola Company, PepsiCo Inc., Danone S.A., Monster Beverage Corporation, Kraft Foods Group, Inc., MYX Beverage LLC., among others.
