Bottled Water in Sweden

PROSPECTS

Sales largely driven by functional bottled water

Sales of bottled water are heavily linked to the summer weather and news articles discussing the negative impact of plastic bottles on the environment. Hence, the key driver of category sales has been functional bottled water, which is benefiting from the launch of brand extensions from the Swedish company Vitamin Well as well as new entrants.

Still bottled water seeking new consumer groups

Although functional bottled water was the fastest growing category in 2017, still bottled water continued to record solid gains, while the off-trade volume sales of carbonated bottled water remained flat. Sales of still bottled water were supported by various factors, such as attractive packaging, the strengthening on-the-go consumption trend and strong immigration, with the majority of immigrants preferring still to carbonated water.

Off-trade to slightly increase its share of volume sales

A small gain in volume share for the off-trade is anticipated over the forecast period as more and more restaurants and cafés will opt to serve tap water to which bubbles are added via a machine instead of serving carbonated bottled water. A similar trend is expected in still bottled water, where restaurants can filter tap water.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Spendrups Bryggeri remains the clear category leader

Spendrups Bryggeri continued to lead bottled water in both off-trade value and volume terms in 2017. The company’s flagship brand is Loka, although it also sells the Grythyttan brand in small quantities.

Strongest performing players and brands mainly active in functional bottled water

Vitamin Well continued to perform well in functional bottled water in 2017, partly thanks to its support of various sporting events. The company’s Vitamin Well+ product has been developed in collaboration with the Swedish football player Zlatan Ibrahimovic and is the current official sponsor of the Swedish Football League.

Category dominated by local brands

Bottled water in Sweden continued to be dominated by local brands, such as Loka, Ramlösa and Vitamin Well, although Ramlösa is owned by the Danish company Carlsberg. The share of private label also remained relatively high, with sales led by products from national chains such as ICA, Axfood and Coop.

Files are delivered directly into your account within a few minutes of purchase.