Top sellers in US convenience

What do Americans buy most in convenience stores? The figures are huge. Energy drinks are no 3 in beverages, with bottled water in 4th place.

For value, the top beverage is beer on $16.1 billion, then carbonated soft drinks on $8.6 billion, energy drinks not far behind on $7.3 billion and bottled water on $3.1 billion. Milk comes in at $1.9 billion, with wine and spirits each under $0.7 billion.

For volume, carbonated soft drinks lead on 5.2 billion units, followed by beer on 3.1 billion, energy drinks on 2.9 billion and bottled water on 2.0 billion. Sports drinks and ready to drink tea/coffee are the only two other beverages over 1 billion.

The figures come from IRI for the year to July 2013 and were published in the September issue of Beverage Industry magazine.