Bottled Water in France

2020 IMPACT

Retail sales of bottled water supported by very warm weather during summer

The strongest impact on retail sales of bottled water in France during 2020 was not the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, rising off-trade sales of bottled water were mainly the result of the heatwave that swept across France during summer.

Demand for flavoured bottled water comes under serious pressure for the first time

The difficult situation faced by France’s bottled water companies during 2020 was brought into focus by the strong slowdown seen in sales of flavoured bottled water. The category has for many years been registering strong positive sales growth, although maturity and saturation saw growth rates slowdown significant during 2019.

Private label recovers due to widespread financial hardship and EGA legislation

2020 saw private label and low-cost brands such as Cristaline gain ground in bottled water. One major reason for this was the influence of France’s new EGA legislation, which came into effect during 2019 and which regulates the ability of companies and brands to make use of price promotions as a marketing tool.

RECOVERY AND OPPORTUNITIES

Pressure on demand for bottled water to remain throughout the forecast period

The economic recession that has emerged from the COVID-19 situation can be expected to pile further pressure on demand for bottled water in France. The category was already facing challenges prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic due to consumer concerns over plastic waste in the role of soft drink companies in distributing vast amounts of disposable single-use plastic.

COVID-19-inspired shift towards at-home consumption expected to remain in effect

One of the main reasons that the consumption of bottled water is expected to remain under pressure during the forecast period is that consumers are expected to be spending a lot more time at home than previously, reducing the need to consume bottled water, a product which is intrinsically linked with out-of-home consumption. Many French people began working from home during the initial quarantine lockdown and continued to work from home throughout 2020, in line with the principles of social distancing and home seclusion.

E-commerce to become more important as hypermarkets face increasing irrelevance

Among the biggest changes seen in French society during the COVID-19 pandemic was the huge shift seen towards the use of e-commerce among a broad cross-section of the country’s population. Although it was the quarantine lockdown and reluctance to venture outside the home unless absolutely necessary at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic which inspired the major increase seen in demand for e-commerce in France during 2020, it is expected that e-commerce will remain highly popular once the pandemic situation is resolved to the extent that life can return to some semblance of normality for huge numbers of French people.