Global Campaigns News

Frugal Britons shun bottled water

Posted: August 25, 2009

Emily Pickett, The Sotsman, August 25, 2009 - Sales of bottled water have slumped as consumers shun the major European brands and save money by drinking humble tap water.

The latest figures for the year to mid-July show that overall sales of bottled water have fallen 6.1 per cent to £576 million.

Sales of Nestlé Water's Vittel have nosedived 59 per cent to £8.3m, while the firm's other international brand, Perrier, dropped 12 per cent to £1.7m.

Danone Water's market-leading Volvic suffered a slump of 10 per cent to £120m and Evian's sales fell 11 per cent to £98m.

However, Nestlé's Buxton water has seen sales jump 12 per cent to £46m, while the company's new Pure Life brand of bottled water has notched up sales of £3m since it launch last October.

Experts say the trend can be explained by consumers who still insist on buying bottled water being increasingly reluctant to purchase non-British brands.

Tesco bottled-water buyer Jamie Feely said: "The traditionally dominant European brands are facing heavy competition from locally sourced bottled waters."

However, the figures – from market research firm Information Resources Incorporated – show Scottish brand Highland Spring is failing to benefit from this domestic market trend, with sales falling 4.8 per cent, from £62.2m to £59.2m, over the past 12 months.

This is in addition to a further 4.6 per cent drop from sales of £65.2m recorded for the year ending 12 July, 2007. However, Highland Spring last night said that it uses AC Nielsen market data for analysis of the grocery sector.

Sally Stanley, marketing director of Highland Spring, said this data shows volume sales for bottled water have increased by 0.7 per cent, while value sales have increased by 7.1 per cent, giving Highland Spring a 14.3 per cent brand share.

"Highland Spring has continued to enjoy steady sales in recent months and has strong expectations for the rest of the year and beyond," she said.

"In June this year, we recorded our best month's sales in the history of Highland Spring, bottling nearly 30 million litres, the equivalent of £8m for the first time in a single month, and up 25 per cent on June last year."