LONDON – After 24 years of analysing the market for bottled water in the United Kingdom, Zenith International has published three reports aimed at giving a more complete picture of this dynamic sector. Besides focusing, as it usually does, on the bottled water category, Zenith has published a separate report on sales of water with added ingredients and a consolidated report for all categories of water.
The study
According to the study, consumption of all types of water in the UK increased by 10.0% in 2014, for an overall volume of 3,049 million litres, with a retail value of over 2,400 million sterling. Today, the volume is 40 times higher than it was 30 years ago and represents over 20% of all soft drinks consumed. “This is a remarkable result for the industry and a major asset for consumers, if one considers that – compared to all other categories of drinks – water has a lower environmental impact, but with the advantage of zero calories”, commented the president of Zenith, Richard Hall.
The figures
Amongst the results presented in Zenith’s 2015 report, it was indicated that:
- Still water constituted 83% of sales volume for 2014, while sparkling water amounted to 17%.
- Bottled water represented 85% of total consumption; ordinary and flavoured water, on the other hand, constituted 13%, while water containing added sugar totalled 2%.
- The top 5 brands of mineral water by volume were Nestlé Pure Life, Evian, Highland Spring, Buxton and Volvic.
Water is a healthy product
“It is really encouraging to see another year of growth for the bottled water sector and to find more proof of the fact that people are choosing to drink water – commented Kinvara Carey, General Director of the Natural Hydration Council – Still or sparkling water which flows from natural springs does not contain any calories or sugar, and represents one of the healthiest ways to stay hydrated; therefore we believe that this change will have a positive impact on the health of the nation”. Zenith predicts continued overall growth on the British market, amounting to a further 32% by 2019, for a value of over 4,000 million litres by 2019.
