If you needed to grab something fast at the convenience store, to help energize you through a busy day, what is your energy beverage selection? Since we live in the “Age of the Endless Aisle,” there are more options in every CPG category than during any other point in our history. Even within the smallest retail channel (in terms of average square footage), convenience stores will undoubtedly have coolers filled with RTD coffee beverages and energy drinks, hot or frozen foodservice varieties of the same, powdered stick pack energy supplements for you to add into a bottled water, and even various pill or capsule supplements. And it’s that proliferation of caffeine-containing beverages, along with them being well-entrenched into our daily lives, that's causing “energy everything” to become a certified consumer movement. But if “energy everything” is that rising tide (as I just described), why isn’t it lifting all boats…or in this case all energy beverage subcategories? While U.S. energy drink sales have swelled to over $22 billion, essentially doubling over the last five years, the smaller format subcategory of energy shots hasn’t quite lived up to that robust growth trajectory. In fact, U.S. energy shot sales have continued to hover just under $1 billion and consumption has been slightly down over that same five-year period. So, it begs the question…what the heck is going on? Well…I have a number of theories that I'll explore in this content with many of them centering around the detrimental effects of a decadelong energy shots market domination by 5-Hour Energy. While Red Bull, Monster Energy, and even the energy drink platforms of PepsiCo and Coca-Cola Company tried small format energy shots, those big beverage brands were more focused on larger format energy drinks and that ultimately caused internal strategic conflicts. With 5-Hour Energy being the only sizable business that focused solely on that smaller format, the energy shots brand became stagnant as the energy drinks market saw huge competition that forced lots of product innovation...becoming the superpower of energy drinks to successfully reposition itself within the broader beverage market, appealing to a wide range of consumers. Moreover, energy shots are marketed directly and specifically as an energy source, while energy drinks are marketed as a lifestyle beverage that offers the functional benefit of energy. And in today’s world, there are as many energy drinks as there are personalities, and your choice can say a lot about you and your personality. To go one step further…drinks have become status symbols or basically aspirational mixtures, representing flavor taste, lifestyle taste, and identity by association. Additionally, it’s my belief that energy shots lack the refreshment qualities that carbonated energy drinks provide. And more consumers every day are looking for the total package. So, with all that extra liquid…it gives brands the ability to be thoughtful with ingredient innovation that won’t override taste, which has been a challenge to keep up with in recent years for energy shot manufacturers. But where does the energy shots subcategory go from here? I think the energy need state is massive…and that gives the format a chance to evolve into something that offers more than functionality. And this might be the perfect time to attempt a categorical transformation, as the 800lb gorilla of 5-Hour Energy is fed up being 90% of a struggling subcategory and finally launched large format energy drinks.

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