2016 State of the Industry: Bottled water market has potential to surpass CSDs
Sparkling and enhanced waters drive category growth
Today, consumers are choosing bottled water more often for its natural and healthy attributes. The International Bottled Water Association (IBWA), Alexandria, Va., and Beverage Marketing Corporation (BMC), New York, recently released 2015 bottled water statistics showing that Americans’ consumption of bottled water increased by 7.9 percent and bottled water sales were up 8.9 percent from the previous year. BMC indicates that the category will overtake carbonated soft drinks (CSDs) as the largest beverage category by volume by 2017, if not by the end of 2016, it says.
This is in line with Chicago-based Information Resources Inc.’s (IRI) data, which indicates that the bottled water category as a whole is up 9.3 percent year-to-date, for $14.2 billion in the 52 weeks ending May 15 in U.S. supermarkets, drug stores, gas and convenience stores, mass market retailers, military commissaries, and select club and dollar retailers.