Euromonitor International's health and wellness team have published a new global briefing, titled Healthy Living: Insights of Global Naturally Healthy Bottled Water. The report leveraged data from several Passport systems including soft drinks, health and wellness, global consumer survey, digital consumer, packaging and analytics. It is the first comprehensive global briefing on naturally healthy bottled water. This report applies Euromonitor International's company-wide Megatrends Framework to naturally healthy (NH) bottled water. Of these eight megatrends, those of particular relevance to NH bottled water are Healthy Living and Premiumisation.
The following are the key findings:
NH bottled water is a growth driver in the health and wellness market. This is underpinned by solid market expansion in the US, China, Japan and Brazil, while Western Europe maintained moderately positive growth. However, there are disparities in the type of NH water consumed, with NH natural mineral water dominating in Western Europe while the US drinks mostly spring water.
Globally, consumers are aspiring to live a healthy lifestyle, and they are concerned about sugarised drinks and pursuing simple products with naturally healthy attributes. NH natural mineral water offers traceability, transparency and natural minerals, which are desirable attributes. NH natural mineral water can also be used as an ingredient to boost health credentials.
China, Western Europe and the US are seeing premiumisation in the consumption of beverages. While some European brands have found it challenging to increase volume sales, owing to market maturity, China and the US offer some export opportunities for well-established brands.
Nestlé leads the global NH bottled water market, with a strong position in Western Europe and the US. Both Nestlé and Danone are pushing the presence of their international brands beyond Western Europe. The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC)'s acquisition of Topo Chico added some excitement in the NH carbonated mineral water category, with a surge in category sales in the US.
In developed markets, the environmental impact of PET bottles is increasingly a consideration. Regulators are increasingly scrutinising multinationals' handling of plastics, while the major players are making commitments and setting goals to reduce the impact by using innovative materials, and increasing the amount of recycled materials used. Major brands are establishing links with sustainability/CSR programmes.