Blue Lucozade blows up for convenience retailers

Consumers have gone bonkers for Blue Lucozade, aka Blucozade, which blasted into convenience stores at the tail end of last month.

As early as January, there was talk on social media of the mystery-flavoured new sports and energy variants - Blue Rush, Blue Force and Blue Burst - and since the new lines hit shelves, retailers have barely been able to keep up with demand.  

“It’s been phenomenal,” says Neil Godhania, who owns Neil’s Premier in Peterborough. “We managed to shift almost a pallet of each [flavour] in the first week!” 

He gave the products a further boost by creating a social media video. “I think everyone was doing something serious with it and … I just thought it could have done with a funny twist,” grins Neil. Cue staff dressed in Lucozade-branded t-shirts and matching shades (acquired during a previous promotion) striding to the fridge to get their mitts on some Blucozade and telling customers about the new variants. “The reaction has been crazy,” says Neil. “Not only have the customers been coming in and said, ‘oh, we love it’ and bought the product, we’ve also had traction with people away from the business as well!”

As soon as his initial stock, which was sent direct from Suntory, ran out, he winged it over to his local Bestway. “We filled the vans up and then went back over to the store. We’ve got a display window with a lot of space so we put it there and then obviously it was word of mouth and traction on Facebook and Instagram. We had a lot of people come through the door, which was really, really good.” 

He claims that the product even attracted people beyond the local area. “With this particular store, we know our customer base, we know them on a first name basis, and very rarely do we get passing trade,” says Neil. “So when you see someone that you don’t really recognise, you’re like - ‘You’ve come for Lucozade, right?’ They’ve picked up the Lucozade and they might pick something else up too. 

“I think we just got on it at the right time really. It’s been a really good product.”

Always on top of all the latest trends, Amrit Singh of H & Jodie’s in Walsall, West Midlands, is also raving about blue Lucozade, which has seen strong sales both in store and online. “It’s really flying to be honest with you,” he says. “I was lucky enough to get some from Suntory directly… Then we bought it in from Bestway and we’ve just seen non-stop success with it … We sold two pallets’ worth in four days!”

He was convinced that it was going to perform well before it even launched. “I said this product’s going to go crazy because I knew it was going viral anyway because obviously social media is a massive part of our business,” he says. “So I was like ‘I need to get my hands on it’.”

H & Jodie’s has also been supporting the product online. “We’ve got two girls in the social media team that created our own assets for it and made some really good TikTok videos and Instagram reels,” he says. The videos have already racked up 10s of thousands of views.

Sue Nithyanandan, who runs Costcutter Epsom in Surrey with husband Nithy, is the first to admit that she’s not really ofay with TikTok, but that hasn’t stopped her from getting in on the action. “I’m not very much on Tiktok, but I heard from my girls who are on TikTok that they’re [people are] looking for wherever [blue Lucozade] is available and they’re tracking it.

“When I first put out the stock, three cases went in hours and then subsequently we’ve restocked.

“It’s all a bit of fun and games - it’s something to keep the kids busy,” she says, adding that she’ll only sell them the sports variants as the store doesn’t sell energy drinks to children. 

Aman Uppal of One Stop Mount Nod also joined in, having received three cases of Blucozade from Suntory. “The buzz was amazing with customers and with retailers,” he says. “Everyone was sharing pictures of them putting it out and of the deliveries … It was nice that retailers from all different symbol groups have been able to benefit from this.”

The initial run of sales was short lived. “As quick as it came, it went!” he says.

But with more stock scheduled via One Stop, Aman is confident there are further sales to come. “It’s helped us give our customers a bit of a teaser of what’s coming ahead,” he says. “A lot of customers have been asking when it’s in, a lot of customers are coming in disappointed because they’ve not been able to get it, but it all adds to the hype.”

Aman thinks the new Lucozade lines will remain in demand for longer than new Prime flavours. “Prime is still a very popular brand, but we’re seeing that popularity of Prime peaks when a new flavour comes out and then it dies down quite quickly,” he observes. “So it’s a massive big bang and then it peters away, whereas with this [Blucozade], we think there’s a bit more longevity in it and also it’s filled the void of what customers want with the new products in the drinks energy format. This definitely has come at the right time. The timing could not be any better.”

He is also hopeful that Monster’s Bad Apple Energy, which made its debut on 4 March, will perform well. “That has been similar in the way where people have come looking for it as soon as we’ve shared it on our social media, on Instagram, Facebook, people have seen it. It’s quite a unique sort of proposition as well in terms of there’s never really been an apple energy drink in that space.”

He has been sent some merchandise from Coca Cola Europacific Partners, which he is using to run a competition to support the launch, with prizes including a t-shirt and a pair of Monster gaming headphones. “I think it definitely does help these things go a long way in terms of keeping sales of the products going and we’re going to try to do it in a way that’s linked to product purchase,” he states. “I want to keep the prize local, I want it to go to somebody that shops with us regularly, that buys the product regularly, rather than doing a like and share competition, which is great in boosting numbers on our social media following, but it’s an artificial way of doing it. I’d rather see it go to someone that we will see that will use it, that will enjoy those headphones and everything.”

He adds: “I think NPDs are great if they’re communicated correctly by the brand; the POS is is available; and the stock, more importantly, is available. If that all happens at the same time and we’re informed - it’s the best thing at the moment because it’s something that’s new. It drives sales and then also it creates a buzz in the store.”