Rio Boom is transforming India’s energy drink market through attractive pricing, innovative product offering and interesting marketing practices, making it accessible to a young, aspirational consumer base. An innovative product from Rio InnoBev Pvt Ltd, co-founded by brothers Rahul Sangoi, Rajiv Sangoi and Rohan Sangoi in 2014, this energy drink promises to be the answer to India’s craving for an instant pick-me-up. The brand has singularly concentrated on steering energy drink consumers between 18 and 28 from pricier energy beverages to a performance-enhancing, accessible alternative.
What’s driving the brand’s popularity is its astute insight into the targeted buyer segment. It has figured out early that a young cohort from aspirational Bharat, wasn’t able to reach out to the expensively priced energy drinks market that has been showcasing an upward swing in recent years.
Undoubtedly, the energy drink space in India is huge and is held to be around Rs 4000-crore. Equally encouraging is its growth trajectory at 20% CAGR. It is also a beverage for mostly youngsters although its popularity is pretty strong till the age of 40. Last year, Rio Boom sold 12 million cans, and is on track for a 30% growth this year.
It is the lower end of the age spectrum that Rio Boom wants to tap into with its affordable price and provocative tagline, ‘Rok Ke Toh Dekh.’ Priced at ₹45 per 250 ml can, as opposed to more expensive competition that cost in the range of ₹110- ₹125, Rio Boom aims to boost its outreach to a broader legion of value-conscious consumers.
Promoters of Rio Boom are veterans of the beverage industry and are highly sensitive to how the drinks segment is India is fundamentally altering India’s young generation. Rio understood early on that bridging the gap between traditional soft drinks and innovative beverages for the Indian youth of today was key to establishing the brand in a fiercely competitive, giant MNC-driven refreshment space. Therefore, the company introduced, Rio Bubbly Fruit Drink (BFD) right at the beginning. Rio BFD is a mildly carbonated fruit-flavoured drink that offers a combination of real fruit juice, honey, and Vitamin C, while containing 25% less sugar than many competing brands. Noting the rapidly-rising global media exposure of the Indian youth, Rio BFD also offers an exciting range of international and local flavours such as ‘Wildberries,’ ‘Guava,’ ‘Acai Berry’ and ‘Raw Mango.’
Their new product Rio Boom builds on the brand familiarity and momentum of the beverage market, fuelled by a combination of altered taste preferences amidst a changing lifestyle landscape. It is true that Indians have been consuming more energy drinks than ever before. Euromonitor data reveals that Indians swigged over 570 million litre energy drinks in 2023. That’s a big leap from 2018, when they drank about 17-19 million litre, effectively suggesting that there has been an increase of over 30 times in six years.
Rio Boom has made its presence felt in this fast-growing dynamic beverage ecosystem by expanding the brand’s reach through its aggressive marketing, attractive pricing and deep penetration into Indian cities.
The energy drink brand has also successfully managed to ride the Indian e-commerce boom while being flexible with its brick-and-mortar store presence. Currently, the Rio Boom is available in over 25 cities (most particularly in Maharashtra and Gujarat), while also being present in more than 35,000 retail outlets, including major chains like Dmart, Reliance Retail, and 7-Eleven. What’s more, the energy drink label is listed in top e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, Zepto, and Swiggy Instamart. The company has ambitions to break down the price barrier, making energy drinks an everyday choice, rather than an occasional treat, while encouraging consumers to enjoy them more frequently.
Clearly energy drinks have found their spot in the sun. Aspirational youngsters of modern India have packed work or academic schedules and aspire to have a leisure calendar to match as well. To that end, energy drinks offer the boost to actively enjoy an alert and high-performance life. Rio Boom is hoping to be the star of the energy drink supermarket aisle with its innovative combination of ingredients, including caffeine, taurine, and essential vitamins, that will help students, athletes, and young professionals to stay switched on for long sessions of both work and party time.
While stepping on the gas in the context of product innovation, Rio Boom is also a stickler for quality and safety. At the company’s manufacturing facility in Pune, an advanced canning line produces 120 cans per minute. FSSAI guidelines are strictly adhered to, and every batch undergoes rigorous testing to meet energy drink standards, ensuring each can is safe and perfect for consumption.
Capitalising on the general awareness among modern youngsters to boost alertness and maintain health and hydration, Rio is keen to grow into a ₹500 crore brand within the next five years and a ₹1,000 crore brand over the next 8-10 years. Leapfrogging from its current availability, it also wishes to increase its footprint to more than 100 cities in the next three years. While its core markets today are Maharashtra and Gujarat, it is poised to expand into Karnataka and Telangana in the coming days.
