Retail Environment Analysis

The beverage industry is a huge market worldwide and even more so in the United States. The biggest contributors to the beverage market include alcohol and soft drinks which are nonalcoholic, and usually carbonated (but not always). Another small but growing market of the beverage industry are sports drinks. These days people are seeking a healthily alternative to sugar filled drinks. Most sports drinks include electrolytes, sodium, vitamins, minerals, salt, sugar, and potassium. The sole purpose is to hydrate, usually after a workout or intense sweat to refuel the body. That doesn’t have to be the case as a lot of non-athletes just enjoy the taste and want healthier options than soda. According to (statista.com) “The sales volume of the sports and energy drinks category amounted to 4.31 billion cases worldwide in 2019. In the U.S. alone, the sales volume of sports drinks amounted to over one billion 192-oz. cases in that year, capturing a market share of 35.7 percent of the non-carbonated soft drink market.”

With growing demand for healthy alternatives in the food and beverage market for options that replace sugar and salt products, organic is on the rise and will only continue to grow. For a product to be truly organic (USA) it must be USDA certified. This means organic foods are grown and processed according to federal guidelines, including soil quality, animal raising practices, pest and weed control, and use of additives (harmful chemicals). (USDA)

Sunrize is an organic sports drink company that is new to the industry, we entered the space because we are passionate about health and don’t want people to sacrifice flavor for healthy beverages. We noticed a lot of food and beverage industries are deceitful with labeling and how they advertise their product. Sunrize is dedicated to honesty and delivering a high-quality home-grown product. Our company is dedicated to the environment and sustainability, much like our organic competitor: Honest Tea. Sunrize wants to take it one step further and instead of using plastic bottling like our competitors we plan to use hemp packaging for all our products. As hemp is very sustainable, easy to grow, biodegradable, and can be grown locally here in Wisconsin.

Sunrize is new to the sports drink industry, and it is facing major competitors such as Gatorade and Body-armor. Gatorade is well known worldwide and has been around longer than any sports drink. The issue with Gatorade is their drinks are high in sodium and don’t contain much potassium. They have a great marketing strategy as they’re the official drink of the NBA, NFL, MLB, WNBA, and many other armature sports teams. Much like Gatorade we plan to separate ourselves by building a strong customer base here in the Midwest before we start to expand nationwide and eventually worldwide. Our goal is to be the official drink of every Kwik trip, we will run promotions through them, sponsor their sweepstakes, set up sample stations, and drive the Sunrize van across the Midwest handing out free drinks and merchandise. Also, like Gatorade we hope to eventually sponsor the Green Bay Packers, Milwaukee Bucks, and Milwaukee Brewers.

Our pricing will fall right in line with Body-armor, Gatorade, and Honest tea at $2.50 for a single 28 Fl OZ bottle of Sunrize, this makes us less expensive than Gatorade and Body-armor but more expensive than honest. We will run promotions at Kwik trip 2 for $3.00, and Festival foods with the purchase of any Organic Valley product receive $1.00 off Sunrize drinks.

The product line will suit a variety of customer’s needs, including protein bars, shakes, and more. New flavors will be unique with a limited-edition line and opportunity for customers and fans to create their own flavor combinations via the Sunrize app. The goal of this is to create engagement, awareness, growth, sales, and ultimately invent a new flavor that everyone loves that no other competitor offers.

Body-armor and Honest seem to be our closest competitors as they offer healthier options. Body-armor contains coconut water so Sunrize will also offer a product line very similar contains the same ingredients. Honest is organic and use fair trade ingredients. Sunrise plans to source every ingredient it can possibly get from small farms in the Midwest and across America, keeping the product made and produced in America. “The true organic drink for American, born and raised in the USA,” This will show our support for small business and reduce shipping costs and the pollution that comes with it, this is our approach to get customers away from supporting corporations and support their local small business. 8% of all Sunrize sales will go to struggling small business and building new small American business.

Sunrise products are unique and made with love, we have big goals and aspirations, and we expect to grow quick upon our shelf date at Kwik trips across the Midwest. Our goals will change depending on growth, but we will always support small business and give back to our communities. We’re proud to be hard working Americans and we appreciate the work that goes into quality American made products. We hope to be the poster child of all small companies through word of mouth, product quality, and customer interaction and loyalty like no other company has offered before.

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

“Bevnet.” n.d. https://www.bevnet.com/brands/honest-tea-sport-1.

“Forbes.” 5 November 2021. https://www.forbes.com/sites/elizahaverstock/2021/11/05/how-much-bodyarmor-sports-drink-cofounder-is-worth-thanks-to-coca-cola-deal–hint-hes-now-a-billionaire/?sh=7bb8533a6811.

Gallie, Brandon. “Brandon Gallie.” 23 December 2015. https://brandongaille.com/16-refreshing-gatorade-demographics/#:~:text=Gatorade’s%20primary%20target%20demographic%20is,the%204%2D6%25%20range.

“Honest Tea.” n.d. https://www.honesttea.com/our-story/timeline.

“statista.com.” 12 January 2022. https://www.statista.com/topics/3051/sports-drinks/#dossierKeyfigures.

“The Business Journals.” n.d. https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2016/06/22/watch-out-gatorade-honest-tea-is-entering-the.html.

“USDA.” 19 March 2019. https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2012/03/22/organic-101-what-usda-organic-label-means.

 

 

 

 

Body Armor	Gatorade	Honest Tea (sport)
Describe competitor (company, product, and why they are a competitor)	Describe competitor (company, product, and why they are a competitor)	Describe competitor (company, product, and why they are a competitor)
Premium sports drink offering 4 different types of the drink. Sports Drink Potassium packed electrolytes, antioxidants, coconut water, B vitamins. NO artificial sweeteners, flavors, or dyes. Lyte Sports Drink No artificial sweeteners, no sugar added, Low Calorie, Potassium packed electrolytes, antioxidants & B vitamins, Coconut water. Edge 100 MG caffeine, 1,000 MG electrolytes, NO artificial sweeteners, flavors, or dyes. Antioxidants, coconut water, B vitamins.   Sports-water Alkaline PH 9+, electrolytes, all day hydration	Sports drink created in 1965 at Florida University Sports Drink Thirst quencher, G zero (no sugar), G2 (low sugar), Organic thirst quencher, Gatorade juiced Protein G Zero + Protein, Super shake, recover whey protein bar, recover protein shake, protein powder. Energy Endurance energy chews, endurance energy gel, endurance energy gel with caffeine	1998 Honest tea was started out of Seth Goldman’s Garage, alongside Barry Nalebuff. Prideful on being organic. Organic tea Tea bags, organic tea in a bottle, special-tea (k-cups) Summer refreshments Berry hibiscus, half lemonade & half tea, mint limeade, original lemonade, mango lemonade, watermelon lemonade. Organic Juice Apple, blueberry raspberry, strawberry lemonade.   Other drinks Honest kids Yerba Mate
Vision/Strategy and Mission Stmt	Vision/Strategy and Mission Stmt	Vision/Strategy and Mission Stmt
BODYARMOR is a premium sports drink that provides superior hydration. It is packed with electrolytes, coconut water and vitamins and is low in sodium and high in potassium	Gatorade has been in the market more than 50 years, their goal from the beginning was: helping athletes all around the world unleash their full potential and fuel their energies. “Thirst quencher”	Honest seeks to create and promote great tasting, healthy, organic beverages. We strive to grow our business with the same honesty and integrity we use to craft our recipes, with sustainability, and great taste for all.
Product Pricing	Product Pricing	Product Pricing
Single 28 FL OZ- $2.89 Single 12 FL OZ- $1.99 Wholesale 16 pack 16 FL OZ- $20.00	Single 28 Fl OZ- $1.89 Single 12 Fl OZ- $1.99 Wholesale 12 Fl OZ 12 pack- $6.48	Single 16.9 FL OZ- $1.99
Total Sales (in millions)	Total Sales (in millions)	Total Sales (in millions)
1.4 billion Forbes	6.7 billion in total Gatorade products Gatorade perform 1.6 billion equaling over 20% of the market (Statista)	222 million (Honest Tea)
Competitive Advantage and Positioning	Competitive Advantage and Positioning	Competitive Advantage and Positioning
8% of sports drink industry in 2020 Recently bought out by Coco Cola Shareholders include Kobe Bryant, James Harden, and Naomi Oska   Hydration that more of today’s athletes want and need	GX pods- add water to your bottle & a g pod to create a Gatorade like drink. Protein bars and shakes, organic drink, zero sugar, low sugar. Specialized water bottles of pro sports teams (customizable) Serena Williams, Trevor Laurence, Zion Williamson “Science of hydration” “lifestyle brand”	Organic, visionary leadership award, all products and ingredients are fair trade; contributions equal 2 million. Unsweetened, reducing carbon footprint, USDA organic
Main Strength/Main Weakness	Main Strength/Main Weakness	Main Strength/Main Weakness
High content of vitamins & electrolytes, contains coconut water Rapid growth since Kobe Bryant bought 10% of company in 2012 Little to no sugar Distinctive name & packaging ~online means of advertising, not offline ~ haven’t diversified worldwide	Well branded worldwide, known in the past as the only sports drink to consider Numerous variations of products to tailor the wants and needs of the consumer ~high in sugar and sodium ~sports drink market has grown creating more competition	Bought out by coco cola, more chance for growth (operates independently) The health industry is growing, people are becoming more conscious of what they put in their body, organic and fair-trade products are in demand. Green product- reducing carbon footprint, recycling plastic. Whole-Foods and food co-ops are the only stores you can find this product.
Target Market Description	Target Market Description	Target Market Description
Athletes of all ages and genders, those into health (organic) and are aware of what ingredients are used in their drink.	Athletes’ age’s 13-45 G series- high school athletes 13-17 New products like protein bars and protein drinks to tailor to new audiences. Also, an endurance line & G pod line “Gatorade bath”	Vegan, vegetarian, health conscious (organic), environmentalists, human rights
Summarize their Mkt Strategy (address each of the 4 Ps)	Summarize their Mkt Strategy (address each of the 4 Ps)	Summarize their Mkt Strategy (address each of the 4 Ps)
Body armor offers 12 OZ, 16OZ, & 28 OZ drinks. 20 OZ super-waters. Single 28 FL OZ- $2.89 Single 12 FL OZ- $1.99 Wholesale 16 pack 16 FL OZ- $20.00 Target, Walmart, Walgreens, Kwik trip, Sam’s Club, 7Eleven Commercials with athlete collaboration Official drink of UFC	Gatorade offers 12 OZ 16 OZ & 28 OZ for their classic Gatorade, G-zero, G2, organic thirst quencher, Gatorade juiced. Protein line: shake, powder, bars. Endurance: gel, chews, gel + caffeine. Any supermarket, gas station, vending machine, concession stands. almost anywhere that sells beverages Official sports drink of NBA, NFL, MLS, MLB, WNBA along with college sports and armature sports around the world. (Products such as water bottles showcased) “Gatorade baths”	Fairtrade organic teas, lemonade’s, kids’ juices, juice, sports drink   Average price of drink is $1.99   Wholefoods   Mobile tea garden travels across the country to provide firsthand experience of growing tea leaves.