Bottled Water in France

PROSPECTS

Sales of bottled water given boost by early appearance of heatwave

Bottled water continued to record a strong performance in 2019, driven the largest category of still bottled water. The latter retains its popularity over the carbonated format with a cheaper unit price, while carbonated bottled water has a less natural image with lower penetration in French households.

Dynamic niche areas of functional and flavoured bottled water offer novelty and specific health benefits

The niche categories of flavoured bottled water and functional water were the most dynamic performers in 2019, in both off-trade volume and current value terms. Unlike plain carbonated water, the carbonated variants of flavoured bottled water or “water-like” are gaining in popularity, often with a strong cross-over with trends emerging within juice.

Still spring bottled water retains preference amongst local consumers

Still spring bottled water continued to enjoy a stronger preference amongst local consumers compared to the natural mineral format, in addition to recording a stronger performance in off-trade volume terms in 2019, due its more accessible price. Local brands such as Cristaline perform well due to their regional origins, although consumers are becoming increasingly concerned over the pureness and authenticity of still spring bottled water.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Cristaline strengthens leadership of bottled water with extremely competitive pricing

Cristaline from Neptune strengthened its leadership of bottled water off-trade sales in France in 2019, gaining further share in both volume and value terms. The brand offers a wide range of formats within the category in addition to extremely affordable prices, making it even more competitive than private label, with the latter losing volume share at the end of the review period.

Private label could recover some lost ground if premium brands are priced out due to restrictions on discounts

Despite declining share for private label within a competitive landscape that is consolidated amongst the four leading players, while experiencing the further entry of smaller players under “others”, there is a chance for a recovery over the forecast period with positive value and volume sales growth in 2019. EGA (Etat Généraux de l’Alimentation, anti-dumping legislation) passed a French Agriculture Bill in early 2019 which aims to support local produce, and could disrupt the status quo regarding discounts, particularly for foreign brands that struggle to compete with affordable local bottled water; promotions are now only permitted to total 34% of the value price, and 25% of actual volume sales.

Long-term success of novel functional bottled water brands remains to be seen

The strongly performing niche of functional bottled water is extremely consolidated and dominated by Fresh Food Village with Vitamin Well. However, the leader continued to lose notable share towards the end of the review period following the entry of Coca-Cola’s brand Glacéau Smartwater and Ets Geyer Frères SARL’s IN Freshhh, with both recording dynamic growth in 2019.

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