Bottled Water in Serbia

PROSPECTS

Functional bottled water keeps recording high growth rates

The best-performing category of Serbian bottled water in 2018 was by a high margin functional bottled water. These products are only now reaching many consumers in the country and notably improved distribution and marketing in 2018 influenced the strong growth in the year.

The biggest categories slowly lose share

Carbonated bottled water and still bottled water have been dominating Serbian bottled water for decades, but this is slowly changing. Specifically, their combined off-trade volume share declined marginally in 2018 compared with 2017, while over the entire review period it decreased by three percentage points.

The European Commission’s announcement rekindles debate about benefits of tap water over bottled water

In early 2018, the European Commission issued an announcement on dealing with the dangers of bottled water consumption. The announcement encouraged EU citizens to cut down on their consumption of these products and turn to tap water instead, with the aim to lower overall plastic consumption and avoid other health risks surrounding excessive bottled water usage.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Coca-Cola HBS Serbia ad steps up its game with two big new launches in 2018

During 2018, Coca-Cola launched two new products in Serbia – Smartwater in still bottled water and Römerquelle in carbonated bottled water. Both of these new launches quickly found their way to virtually all consumers in the country thanks to the producer’s massive distribution network.

Most manufacturers remain dormant in terms of new product launches

Apart from Coca-Cola’s launches, there was only one notable new launch in 2018 within bottled water in Serbia. In July 2018 Jamnica doo introduced Mivela Negazirana – its first still bottled water product – in an attempt to win more significant share.

Private label lines remain insignificant

Private label bottled water remains unpopular among consumers and no private label producers have managed to claim a notable share. There are several lines available in 2018, with Delhaize Serbia doo’s Premia being the biggest, but consumers were obviously not willing to give up their favourite brands.

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