• October 19, 2011

Sales may be declining, but consumers still appreciate soft drinks and beer.

The newly released the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) scores show consumers’ satisfaction with the soft drink category up 1.2%, to a score of 85 (on a 0-100 scale) versus last year’s index, reports Beverage Industry.

The strong score reflects consumers’ satisfaction with the category’s wide variety of offerings, product reliability and low unit price, among other factors, said ACSI. Coca-Cola and PepsiCo each showed 1-point improvements in their scores (now both at 85), and smaller brands, which dipped to 79 last year, are now back up at 83.Dr Pepper Snapple Group, however, saw its score decline 4%, to 82.

The beer category’s satisfaction score was stable, at 82.

Miller’s brands scored highest (84), Corona, Heineken, Samuel Adams and assorted microbrewery labels remained at 83. Anheuser-Busch brands declined 1%, to 81, putting those brands at the lower end of the scale, along with Molson Coors.