Report: Carbonated Soft Drink Market in Thailand

Unveiling Thirst Trends in Thailand’s Carbonated Soft Drink Market

Thai consumers have a greater choice of products within the beverage sector than ever before, especially within the carbonated soft drinks (CSD) category. Thailand is a tropical country which is warm and humid all year round, which makes CSD a popular choice for Thai people when they’re out and about and looking for refreshment. 

As the strongest performing category in beverages, CSD has developed the market over the past few years. Key players in the category have come out with new brands, flavours, segments and benefits such as no-sugar, ingredients that boost health, and a great taste. 

At Kantar Worldpanel, we closely observe Thai consumers’ out-of-home (OOH) consumption behaviour – including of beverages, which offers the best case study to help us see how the wider FMCG market is evolving in the country. 

The data shows us how important the category is within Thailand: a huge 90% of consumers in urban areas purchase CSD to drink outside of their home, more than 22 times per year, and spending more than 19 THB per shopping trip.

In this report "Unveiling Thirst Trends in Thailand’s Carbonated Soft Drink Market", we delve into the data in order to explore purchase and consumption behaviours, including the popular formats, flavours and segments that are currently driving the market. 

We reveal the key trends that brands need to understand to drive more consumers to choose their products – including Thailand’s changing demographics, and the desire for health benefits. For instance, most Thai consumers today are looking for beverages with less or zero sugar, but which still taste good.

Many CSD manufacturers and brands are diversifying their product offerings to match shoppers’ needs and desires, in an effort to increase their penetration. Innovation is one of the key factors they are leveraging to recruit more shoppers, develop repeat buyers, or attract consumers to purchase on more occasions.

A crucial new segment has emerged as a result of this push for innovation, which the report puts in the spotlight: functional carbonated soft drinks. These are CSD products that feature added vitamins or health benefits. The segment is quickly picking up buyers, and is driving the penetration of the CSD category overall – indicating that it is able to attract buyers from outside the traditional CSD market.

Kantar’s Out of Home (OOH) panel continuously tracks the products urban shoppers buy for OOH consumption; for themselves, to share with others, or to give to others. The panel helps brands and manufacturers to understand shopper purchase behaviour in a difficult-to-track and highly complex market.

READ THE REPORT