As consumers continue their quest to consume more better-for-you beverage options, bottled water continues to widen its gap over carbonated soft drinks (CSDs) as the hydration category ranked at the top of beverage sales by volume in the United States for the third straight year, says Gary Hemphill, managing director of research at New York-based Beverage Marketing Corporation (BMC). To quench consumers’ thirst for healthy hydration, more value-added waters, flavors and innovative choices are hitting store shelves.
While bottled water growth further enlarged in 2018, albeit at a slower rate than in 2017, the bottled water category shows no signs of slowing down. “Total bottled water grew from 13.2 billion gallons in 2017 to 13.8 billion gallons in 2018, an increase of almost 5 percent (compared to more than 6 percent in 2017),” according to BMC’s August “Bottled Water in the U.S. Through 2023” report.