Shelf Snapshot: How Poppi, Olipop and Popwell Stack Up in the Aisle

Functional soda (sometimes referred to as probiotic, modern or gut health soda) is becoming an increasingly crowded market. 

A category once dominated by smaller brands, both The Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo made category inroads this year: Coca-Cola launched Simply Pop probiotic soda and PepsiCo acquired soda pioneer Poppi for $1.95 billion. 

Indeed, forecasts paint a sunny road ahead: The U.S. probiotic and prebiotic soda market generated $171.6 million in revenue in 2024 and is expected to reach $268.8 million, according to Grand View Research. The U.S. market is pegged to grow at a CAGR of 7.8% from 2025 to 2030.

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While traditional soda brands lead in sales through the category’s largest-selling channels (traditional grocery, convenience and mass), top modern soda brands are winning in channels fueling the fastest growth in carbonated soft drinks (natural grocers, pure play e-commerce, and club stores), according to Circana.  

As a snapshot of how this category is presented in stores, Storesight's Stack Rank compares Poppi, Olipop and Popwell by calculating share of shelf by retailer, based upon product facings. Put simply, share of shelf is a metric that compares the presence of a given brand to the total available positions.

This was originally published on P2PI, a CGT sister publication.