While fruit juice, smoothies and juice drinks are an established part of Brits’ diets, only 45% of consumers drink fruit juice at least once a week, falling to a quarter for juice drinks and one in five for smoothies. Health and cost considerations have seen these drinks largely relegated to the role of an occasional treat, with recent years seeing continuing volume declines in the market.

Recent NPD (New Product Development), however, has looked to address both concerns. Openness among consumers to steps to reduce the sugar content of such drinks, such as through the use of sweeteners or through vegetable juice or coconut water blends, highlights the scope for the market to engage health-conscious consumers.

This report examines the market for fruit juice, juice drinks and smoothies in the UK through both on- and off-trade outlets.

Fruit juice and juice drinks can be described as:

• Fruit juice: These must legally be made of 100% pure fruit juice. This may or may not include pulp and is often pasteurised to make it last longer. A typical example is Tropicana Pure Fruit Juice.

• Juice drinks: These are drinks that contain less than 100% fruit juice and have added ingredients, mainly water but these can also include sweeteners, flavourings, colourings and/or vitamins. A juice drink must contain a minimum of 2% comminuted fruit, although most have a much greater proportion. This sector includes ready-to-drink (RTD) versions of concentrated squashes, eg Ribena.

There are also some juices that contain a combination of fruit juices and vegetable juices and these are included in Mintel’s definition of fruit juices, provided they consist of 50% or more fruit juice. Coconut water brands like Vita Coco are included in the market size.

There is currently no legal definition of what constitutes a smoothie and manufacturers’ opinions regarding this question are divided.

For the purposes of this report, Mintel has defined a smoothie as a drink that is made with pure crushed fruit, but which may also include a small amount of fruit juice or purée, yogurt, milk or soymilk and is smooth in texture.

The report will also make reference to smoothie/juice bars, however, the focus is on the prepacked smoothies market and sales of unpacked smoothies are not included in the market size.

Pure vegetable juices and carbonated fruit drinks are excluded from this report and the market size. Sales of freshly squeezed fruit juice are excluded from the market size. Sales of unpacked smoothies are not included in the market size.

Value figures throughout this report are at retail selling prices (rsp) unless otherwise stated. Market sizes at constant 2014 prices have been calculated using Mintel’s drinks deflator. Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen’s Printer for Scotland.