Innocent dairy-free drinks

Source: Innocent

The drinks made their grocery debut in March 2018, after more than a year’s development

Innocent has axed its range of dairy-free milk alternatives after five years on shelves. 

The fruit juice giant announced on Twitter this week the range would leave shelves “in the next few weeks”.

“We know some of you really love our coconut, hazelnut and almond drinks, so we wanted to say a big thanks for buying them,” it stated.

“We really appreciate all five of you.”

According to an Innocent spokeswoman, the range “had a loyal customer base”, but “didn’t see the success we had hoped for”.

Indeed, sales of Innocent’s alt milks plummeted by 42.0% to £3.4m in the 52 weeks to 10 September 2022 [NIQ].

“Whilst the dairy alternatives range won’t be continuing, we will continue to explore the use of dairy alternatives as ingredients,” said the spokeswoman. “In fact, we are already working on some tasty new recipes which include dairy alternative ingredients.”

The drinks made their grocery debut in March 2018, after more than a year’s development.

They were backed by a £4m spend from Innocent, which claimed to have identified a “huge opportunity” to bring new shoppers into the dairy alts category. 

This week, Nurture Brands MD Adam Draper told The Grocer he expected “significantly less brands on the shelf” in the dairy-free aisles over the next few years, as own label “dominates category growth”.

Retailers would continue to consolidate their ranges around “brands that offer real differentiation, quality, and value”, Draper added.

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