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For the last few years, marketers have been operating under a clear assumption: that the cost of living crisis has pushed or is pushing consumers away from premium.
We’ve heard consumers are cutting back. People are trading down. But fear not, selective premiumisation changing the landscape.
The cost of living crisis has fundamentally changed purchasing behaviour across the UK. Consumers are scrutinising everyday spending more carefully, reducing impulse purchases and becoming far more selective about where they are willing to spend more money.
At Traction, we’ve been tracking consumer attitudes and behaviours within the premium soft drinks category, alongside specific tracking around Fever-Tree. What the data reveals is a clear shift toward what can best be described as selective premiumisation.
Consumers still want quality. They still value elevated experiences. They still associate premium products with better ingredients, better taste and more rewarding moments.
so Premium is not disappearing.
It is becoming more intentional
and consumers are just simply buying them differently.
Premium Still Matters in the Category
When consumers were asked why they choose premium soft drinks over standard alternatives, the strongest driver by far was taste and flavour quality, with 65.3% selecting this as a key reason.
That was followed by:
- “Feels like a treat / indulgence” (32.9%)
- “Brand I trust” (31.4%)
- “More natural / better ingredients” (24.9%)
- “Fits better with food or alcohol” (21.1%)
The category is still being driven by experience, quality and emotional reward.
That matters because it shows that even during financially pressured periods, consumers have not stopped valuing premium experiences altogether. Instead, they are becoming much more deliberate about when those experiences feel worth paying for.
This aligns with broader consumer behaviour trends currently being reported across the UK.
According to Deloitte’s Consumer Tracker, discretionary spending confidence remains under pressure despite inflation easing slightly in recent quarters. Meanwhile, ONS reporting continues to show consumers prioritising essentials while reducing spending frequency across non-essential purchases.
But reducing frequency does not necessarily mean abandoning premium altogether.
In many categories, consumers are still willing to spend more when the purchase feels emotionally justified.
What the Fever-Tree Data Reveals
This is where the Fever-Tree tracking becomes particularly interesting.
At Traction, we track how consumers interact with the brand and where it sits within broader category behaviour.
One of the clearest patterns in the data is that Fever-Tree still appears firmly embedded within mainstream shopping behaviour.
Nearly half of consumers purchasing Fever-Tree said they buy it in Tesco (49.4%), followed by Sainsbury’s (29.4%) and Asda (23.3%).
That is important because it demonstrates that premium mixers are not being confined purely to specialist or luxury retail environments.
They are still part of everyday supermarket shopping. However, when you compare this with purchasing frequency data, a much more nuanced picture emerges.
52.2% of consumers said they buy Fever-Tree less than once a month. Only 8.6% said they purchase it once a week, while just 2.6% purchase more than once a week.
That contrast tells an important story.
Consumers are still actively choosing premium products like Fever-Tree during their normal shopping journeys, Premium has shifted from default behaviour to earned behaviour with many looking for permission to indulge.
Premium is shifting from habitual consumption to selective consumption.
The Rise of Selective Indulgence
This is one of the clearest examples of what many marketers are now seeing across FMCG categories: the rise of selective indulgence.
Consumers are not abandoning premium brands because they suddenly no longer care about quality. They are becoming more intentional when premium feels emotionally worthwhile. For some consumers, that might mean choosing premium products when hosting friends. For others, it may mean weekend occasions, dinner parties or moments that feel slightly elevated from everyday routine.
This is exactly where strong premium positioning becomes incredibly valuable.
Fever-Tree has spent years building associations around quality ingredients, elevated serves and better drinking experiences rather than simply competing on functionality alone.
That positioning gives consumers a justification to buy. If consumers are only going to spend more occasionally, the experience itself needs to feel noticeably better.
The brands winning in the current climate are often the brands that make consumers feel the premium is still worth it.
Why This Matters for Marketers
One of the biggest mistakes brands can make during financially pressured periods is assuming consumers only care about price.
In reality, consumers care about perceived value. Those are not the same thing. A cheaper product can still feel poor value if the experience disappoints.
Meanwhile, a premium product can still feel justified if it delivers enough emotional or experiential reward.
This is why premium brands should be extremely careful not to erode the emotional equity they have spent years building.
Discounting may create short-term sales spikes, but long-term growth still relies on maintaining meaningful differentiation, emotional relevance and quality perception.
The challenge for marketers now is understanding exactly where those emotional thresholds sit as consumer behaviour evolves in real time.
Why Real-Time Tracking Matters More Than Ever
This is exactly why continuous brand tracking has become so important. Consumer behaviour is shifting constantly in the current climate. What consumers justified six months ago may no longer feel justified today. Occasion-based purchasing is evolving. Emotional priorities are shifting. Frequency patterns are changing.
Without continuous insight, brands risk making decisions based on outdated assumptions.
At Traction, we help brands understand how consumers think, feel and behave in real time. Not just what they are buying, but why they are buying it.
That means brands can identify:
- Whether premium perception is strengthening or weakening
- How emotional drivers are changing over time
- Which occasions are becoming more important
- Whether consumers still believe the premium is worth paying for
Because in the current climate, growth is not simply about being cheaper.
It is about understanding when and why consumers still choose better.