Analysis of Industry
Before understanding where Red Bull stands within the energy drink industry, it is important to define the energy drink industry itself. Red Bull is an energy drink, which is defined as, “beverages that contain, besides calories, caffeine in combination with other presumed energy-enhancing ingredients such as taurine, herbal extracts, and B vitamins,” (Heckman, Sherry, & De Mejia, 2010). The same article places energy drinks in the “functional” category of drinks, a category that also includes, but is not limited to, sports drinks and work-out supplemental drinks (Heckman, Sherry, & De Mejia, 2010).
Now that it is clear what industry Red Bull belongs to, take a look at how they fit into the functional drink industry. According to an article in Nutrition Journal, Red Bull is the current leader in the energy drink market (Malinauskas, Aeby, Overton, Carpenter-Aeby, & Barber-Heidal, 2007). Supporting evidence was supplied in an assessment of the energy drink market size in 2010 stating that energy drinks account for 62 per cent of their market in the United States, Red Bull holding 42 per cent of that 62 per cent (Heckman, Sherry, & De Mejia, 2010). Simply put, Red Bull, a single and private company, dominates almost half of the functional drink market. This proves they make trends. They were the first company to distribute such a drink, which is why they are still the most popular. Not only is Red Bull the originator, they are the best.
Because Red Bull has the best product on the market, nothing seems to affect their sales. Everyone knows the past few years have been slow economically. While it seems to affect other products and industries, Red Bull seems to be experiencing minimum negative effects. “The numbers indicate that energy drinks will see their strongest growth between the years 2007 and 2012,” (Heckman, Sherry, & De Mejia, 2010). If this assessment had been published or
2 | P a g e researched prior to 2007, it would
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