Today's annual Britvic Soft Drinks Report, which features data accumulated by Nielsen and CGA, said consumers are continuing to search for the best deals and use "thrifty" shopping methods.
Within the take home sub-categories, cola was the highest performing drink. It stole sales from other categories, such as juice and dairy drinks, with sales increasing by 9% to £1.5bn. Coca-Cola topped the category, with an increase in value sales of 8.3% to just over £1.01bn.
Increased sales for Lucozade made it the second biggest take-home brand, increasing sales by 9.4% to £370m. It reflected a boost in the glucose and stimulant drinks sub-category, which rose by 19%.
Britvic said consumers have begun to trade up once again for a "treat fix", especially within the smoothie and cold hot drinks sub-categories, which witnessed a decline last year.
Murray Harris, customer management director at Britvic, said: "2010 was another a tough year for UK consumers, but soft drinks remained resilient. Although people were watching their pounds, they were still willing to spend a comparatively small amount on a soft drink, whether it's at the train station on the way to work or at their local retailer on the way home from school.
"Although people continued to be extremely careful about where and how they spent their money, they clearly saw soft drinks as an affordable treat, especially for those big nights in."
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