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Bottled water market grows driven by consumers' beliefsThe bottled water market has increased from 2011 - 2012 in volume. Players in the market feel that the rise in bottled water has to do with consumers believing that bottled water is healthier than tap water. Category value growth was driven jointly by the price per litre increase as well as by the volume growth. The prices increased due to natural inflationary pressures. In terms of packaging demand, glass usage declined during 2012, while PET demand strengthened. There has been a shift from glass into PET making this pack type dominant in the bottled water industry. Functional breakdown flavour increased in volume and in share, which shows that there has been a shift from sparkling and still product flavours as those have decreased in volume and share. Still unflavoured water continues to dominate and the functional breakdown flavour is developing and maturing as players believe that functional waters have been enhanced with specific ingredients which deliver health and wellbeing benefits. Category definitions
DistributionTop-end retail channel continues to dominate in distribution. Bottom-end retail, garage forecourts, wholesale and on-consumption channel do show growth in distribution. Players believe that the consumption of bottled water continues to increase at home and away from home. Channel distributionAll regions experienced growth in volume distribution, except for Western Cape, with a slight decline. Players believe that there is an increasing demand of bottled water. Northern Cape is growing in share and Free State increased in volume and in share. Limpopo region increased in volume and in share while the North West region decreased in volume but gained share. Regional distributionBottled water industry is encountering new opportunities and challenges with health threat due to lack of recycling tap water regulations and increasing water filtration systems becoming more popular. BMi Research specialises in consumer and industrial research in various sectors, including the retail market, www.bmi.co.za. |