For immediate release

 

BOTTLED WATER RECOVERS SOMEWHAT FROM RECESSIONARY YEARS,
NEW REPORT FROM BEVERAGE MARKETING CORPORATION SHOWS

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Both volume and dollars decline a second time

NEW YORK, NY, September 2011: Until the mid-2000s, the U.S. bottled water market seemed unstoppable. It had achieved considerable stature, second only in size to the carbonated soft drink category, yet continued to grow quickly and forcefully. In 2008, however, the bottled water market suffered an unprecedented setback, and another, larger decline in volume occurred the following year.

In 2010, with a waning of the economic recession that was the primary reason for the end of bottled water's growth streak, volume growth returned to the category, as reported in the latest edition of Bottled Water in the U.S., Beverage Marketing Corporation's annually published analysis of the market.

After declining by 1.0% and 2.5% in 2008 and 2009, respectively, bottled water volume increased by 3.6% to a new high of 8.75 billion gallons in 2010. Producers' revenues, which had declined by about $950 million between 2007 and 2009, increased by a scant 0.2% to $10.6 billion in 2010.

In 2010, the top three bottled water companies in the United States — Nestlé Waters North America (NWNA), Coca-Cola and PepsiCo — accounted for 56.7% of total wholesale dollar sales. NWNA remained the largest bottled water company in the country, with $3.8 billion in sales. NWNA, the purveyor of major regional brands such as Poland Spring, Arrowhead, Deer Park and Zephyrhills, claimed 36.0% of total bottled water sales in 2010. The company's Pure Life label continued to grow impressively, with wholesale dollar sales increasing by 14% in 2010. With just one brand — Dasani — Coca–Cola accounted for 10.4% of the market in 2010. Coke also manages or owns several current and former Danone brands in the United States. PepsiCo's Aquafina brand rang up $1.1 billion in sales in 2010.

Domestic non–sparkling water remained the most substantial segment of the U.S. packaged water industry. Domestic non–sparkling water's 8.4 billion gallons represented 96.1% of total volume in 2010. As a whole, domestic non–sparkling increased at a slightly higher rate than the overall bottled water market.

The non–sparkling category includes diverse parts that had very different results. In 2010, all but one of its segments declined, although rates varied considerably. Throughout most of the 1990s and 2000s, the retail premium PET segment — consisting of still water in single–serve polyethylene terephthalate bottles — drove the overall category's development. Indeed, the PET component enlarged by a double–digit percentage rate 16 consecutive times through 2007. Growth slowed markedly in 2008 before it disappeared in 2009. In 2010, PET's 6.7% increase outshone the 3.6% growth of the bottled water market as a whole. Also, PET volume in 2010 of 5.5 billion gallons stood more than 4.1 billion gallons higher than it had in 2000, and its share of total bottled water swelled from 29% to more than 63% during that 10–year period.

Retail bulk volume growth slowed as more and more consumers selected convenient PET multipacks in large format retail channels instead of larger (1 to 2.5 gallon) sizes. Its share eroded from nearly one–quarter of the category volume at the beginning of the century to about 11% by 2010, largely as a result of competition from PET. Direct delivery also confronted intramural competition from handy, portable PET bottles. The segment, which comprised the largest of them all as recently as the mid–1990s, accounted for 13.2% of total volume by 2010. U.S. home– and office–delivery (HOD) volume slipped by 2.3% to less than 1.2 billion gallons in 2010.

The relatively small, essentially regional vending segment involving refillable jug containers achieved growth in the late 2000s after several years of contraction. Its low cost during economic hard times undoubtedly explained vending's rebound, although it did decline nominally in 2010.

The two segments outside the domestic non–sparkling category had differing fortunes in 2010. The imported water segment, the smallest of them all, is prone to fluctuations. In the 2000s, it registered double–digit percentage growth in some years, and equally sizeable contractions in others. After one of those up years in 2007, imported water's volume fell sharply in 2008 and then plummeted precipitously in 2009. In 2010, imported water continued to fall, but to a lesser degree. In contrast, domestic sparkling water grew volume for a ninth consecutive year.

Despite the persistent challenges that have faced bottled water in recent years, longer–term developments point to a continued thirst for bottled water. Americans upped their annual consumption of it by more than 11 gallons from 16.7 gallons per person in 2000 to 28.3 gallons in 2010. As usual, domestic non–sparkling water accounted for almost all per capita bottled water consumption. Sparkling water and imports each represented less than one gallon per person. In the key PET portion, average intake moved from less than 5 gallons in 2000 to almost 18 gallons 10 years later.

New York City–based Beverage Marketing Corporation is the leading research, consulting and financial services firm dedicated to the global beverage industry.

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For immediate release

 

THE U.S. LIQUID REFRESHMENT BEVERAGE MARKET INCREASED BY 1.2% IN 2010, BEVERAGE MARKETING CORPORATION REPORTS

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Ready-to-drink tea and sports beverages enlarged forcefully; carbonated soft drinks shrank again

NEW YORK, NY, 17 March 2011: The U.S. refreshment beverage market grew by 1.2% in 2010, based on preliminary data from Beverage Marketing Corporation. This represented a significant improvement from the back-to-back declines of the previous two years. Just as the weakened economy hampered beverages' performance in 2008 and 2009, improved conditions contributed to their rebound. Total liquid refreshment beverage volume exceeded 29 billion gallons in 2010.

Premium beverages such as ready-to-drink (RTD) tea and coffee, sports beverages and energy drinks displayed particular vibrancy during 2010, but larger, more established segments such as carbonated soft drinks and fruit beverages failed to grow though their performance improved.

RTD tea moved ahead faster than all other segments with a 12.5% volume surge in 2010. Despite this advance, the segment accounted for a relatively small share of total liquid refreshment beverage volume. While no tea brand ranked among the leading trademarks, Snapple RTD tea did see exceptional growth of 16%. RTD coffee and energy drinks also handily outperformed the overall beverage market but remained comparatively small components of it.

In contrast, sports beverages, which also saw muscular growth in 2010, had Gatorade (including all brand variations) as the fifth largest beverage trademark by volume during the year. After declining in 2009, Gatorade enlarged by more than 6%. The Powerade trademark rocketed upward by 19% in 2010.

Carbonated soft drinks remained by far the largest liquid refreshment beverage category, but they continued to lose both volume and market share. Volume slipped 0.8% from 13.9 billion gallons in 2009 to 13.8 billion gallons in 2010, which resulted in their market share moving down from 48% to 47%. Nonetheless, certain soda trademarks, such as Dr Pepper, Mountain Dew and Sprite, did achieve growth. Moreover, carbonated soft drinks accounted for five of the 11 biggest beverage trademarks during 2010, with Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola retaining their perennial first and second positions.

Bottled water had four entries among the leading trademarks for the first time in 2010 (with two brands essentially tied for tenth place).  Like the beverage marketplace as a whole, bottled water declined in 2008 and 2009 but recovered in 2010, when volume grew by 3.5%.

Four companies accounted for all of the leading refreshment beverage trademarks. Pepsi-Cola had five brands, including the sole fruit beverage brand to make the list, Tropicana. Coca-Cola had three while Nestlé Waters North America (NWNA) and Dr Pepper Snapple Group (DPSG) had two and one, respectively.

"Beverages' resilience in 2010 demonstrated their fundamental strength and enduring appeal for consumers," said Michael C. Bellas, chairman and CEO, Beverage Marketing Corporation. "As we predicted last year, the worst is now behind us and beverages' performance will continue to benefit from the improved economy."

New York City-based Beverage Marketing Corporation is the leading research, consulting and financial services firm dedicated to the global beverage industry.

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For immediate release

 

BEVERAGE MARKETING CORPORATION DEVELOPS SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE

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Leading beverage research and consulting firm deepens industry interaction through Facebook & Twitter

NEW YORK, NY, February 2011: Beverage Marketing Corporation today announced it will interact with the beverage and snack food community and industry suppliers via Facebook and Twitter. Friends and followers will have access to data, special discounts, and articles written by BMC experts. They will also be able to take part in surveys and much more.

"For nearly 40 years we've been the industry's number-one source for reliable beverage information when and where it's needed," said Charlene Harvey, Director of Sales & Marketing, Information Services. "With more people using social media as part of their personal and business lives, it's just one more way to stay connected. We plan to provide special offers not available elsewhere as well as valuable content and a forum for exchanging views. It will be an evolving effort so we hope people will check back often to get the latest information."

On Twitter, Beverage Marketing can be found under user name @bevmarketing. On Facebook, the user name is Beverage Marketing Corporation. Beverage Marketing has also set up a Facebook page for The Beverage Forum, the annual beverage conference the firm presents each year in cooperation with Beverage World Magazine.

New York City–based Beverage Marketing is the leading research, consulting and financial services firm dedicated to the global beverage industry. Founded in 1972, Beverage Marketing publishes more than 30 Market Report and Focus Report studies providing current and projected statistical data and analysis of market and brand trends. Topics include well-established beverage categories such as bottled water, beer, carbonated soft drinks energy and sports drinks as well as emerging categories such as coconut water, kombucha and organic beverages. For more information visit www.beveragemarketing.com.

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For immediate release

BOTTLED WATER CONFRONTS PERSISTANT CHALLENGES, NEW REPORT FROM BEVERAGE MARKETING CORPORATION SHOWS

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Both volume and dollars decline a second time

NEW YORK, NY, July 2010: Until the mid–2000s, the U.S. bottled water market seemed unstoppable. It had achieved considerable stature, second only in size to the carbonated soft drink category, yet continued to grow quickly and forcefully. In 2008, however, bottled water market suffered an unprecedented setback, and another, larger decline in volume occurred the following year.

Prior to the economic recession that was the primary reason for the end of bottled water's growth streak, rapid volume growth characterized the category, as reported in the latest edition of Bottled Water in the U.S., Beverage Marketing Corporation's annually published analysis of the market. Bottled water volume achieved double–digit percentage growth rates in two years and advanced at rates close to that level in several others. After growing by 10.8% in 2005, for instance, bottled water volume enlarged by 9.5% in the following year.

The story changed at the end of the decade, however. Bottled water volume declined by 1.0% in 2008 and by 2.5% in 2009. Furthermore, producers' revenues declined in both 2008 and 2009 as well. Bottled water wholesale dollar sales first exceeded $6 billion in 2000. By 2007, they topped $11.5 billion. Category sales declined to $11.2 billion the following year and to less than $10.6 billion in 2009.

In 2009, the top three bottled water companies in the United States — Nestlé Waters North America (NWNA), PepsiCo and Coca–Cola — accounted for 57.5% of total wholesale dollar sales. NWNA remained the largest bottled water company in the country, with $3.8 billion in sales. NWNA, the purveyor of major regional brands such as Poland Spring, Arrowhead, Deer Park and Zephyrhills, claimed 35.4% of total bottled water sales in 2009. The company's Pure Life label was one of the few to buck the downward tendency afflicting the market. The brand's wholesale dollars grew by 18% in 2009. With just one brand — Aquafina — Pepsi–Cola accounted for 11.1% of the market in 2009. Coca–Cola's Dasani brand rang up $1.2 billion in sales in 2009. Coke also manages or owns several current and former Danone brands in the United States.

Domestic non–sparkling water remained the most substantial segment of the U.S. packaged water industry. Domestic non–sparkling water's 8.1 billion gallons represented 96.1% of total volume in 2009. As a whole, domestic non–sparkling declined at a slower rate than the overall bottled water market.

The non–sparkling category includes diverse parts that had very different results. In 2009, all but one of its segments declined, though rates varied considerably. Throughout most of the 1990s and 2000s, the retail premium PET segment — consisting of still water in single–serve polyethylene terephthalate bottles — drove the overall category's development. Indeed, the PET component enlarged by a double–digit percentage rate 16 consecutive times through 2007. Growth slowed markedly in 2008 before it disappeared in 2009. Yet PET's 0.7% reduction was far less than the loss measured for bottled water in general. Besides, PET volume in 2009 of almost 5.2 billion gallons stood more than 4.1 billion gallons higher than it had in 1999, and its share of total bottled water swelled from 24% to more than 61% during that 10–year period.

Retail bulk volume growth slowed as more and more consumers selected convenient PET multipacks in large format retail channels instead of larger (1 to 2.5 gallon) sizes. Its share eroded from nearly one–quarter of the category volume at the beginning of the century to less than 12% by 2009, largely as a result of competition from PET. Direct delivery also confronted intramural competition from handy, portable PET bottles. The segment, which comprised the largest of them all as recently as the mid-1990s, accounted for 14% of total volume by the end of the 2000s. U.S. home- and office-delivery (HOD) volume slipped from 1.3 billion gallons in 2008 to less than 1.2 billion gallons in 2009.

The relatively small, essentially regional vending segment involving refillable jug containers achieved growth late in the decade after several years of contraction. Its low cost during economic hard times undoubtedly explains vending's rebound.

The two segments outside the domestic non–sparkling category both saw declines in 2009. The imported water segment, the smallest of them all, is prone to fluctuations. In the 2000s, it registered double–digit percentage growth in some years, and equally sizeable contractions in others. After one of those up years in 2007, imported water's volume fell sharply in 2008 and then plummeted precipitously in 2009. Sparkling dipped far more modestly.

Despite the persistent challenges facing bottled water recently, longer–term developments point to a continued thirst for bottled water. Americans upped their annual consumption of it by more than 11 gallons from 16.2 gallons per person in 1999 to 27.6 gallons in 2009. As usual, domestic non–sparkling water accounted for almost all per capita bottled water consumption. Sparkling water and imports each represented less than one gallon per person. In the key PET portion, average intake moved from less than 5 gallons in 1999 to almost 17 gallons 10 years later.

New York City–based Beverage Marketing Corporation is the leading research, consulting and financial services firm dedicated to the global beverage industry.

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For immediate release

U.S. BEVERAGE INDUSTRY LOST BILLIONS IN RECESSION, BEVERAGE MARKETING CORPORATION REPORT CONCLUDES

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Liquid refreshment beverage categories especially hard hit

NEW YORK, NY, July 2010: The U.S. beverage industry lost the equivalent of almost $12 billion in retail sales to the recession of 2008 and 2009, a new report from Beverage Marketing estimates. Most beverage categories underperformed original projections that the company calculated prior to the downturn, as outlined in the newly released study The U.S. Beverage Industry Confronts Economic Challenges.

The United States entered into a recession in December 2007 and by most accounts it ended in July 2009. The souring of the economy for these 20 months affected all sectors, beverages included. The negative impact can be observed in the differences between predicted and actual retail sales.

Most beverage categories had 2009 retail sales that were less than those first projected by Beverage Marketing in spring 2008. Overall retail sales grew by 2.0% in 2009. They were projected to grow by 3.3%. This resulted in a shortfall of $5.9 billion in 2009. An identical shortfall occurred in 2008. With 2008 and 2009 in aggregate, the industry lost an estimated $11.8 billion in sales due to the weakened economy. Most of the impact was on liquid refreshment beverages, which lost an estimated $11.0 billion in retail sales in the last two years. For instance, the formerly vigorous bottled water segment, previously on track for continued growth, saw retail sales decline by nearly 6% in 2009, and category off–shoot value–added water decreased even more precipitously. Of all the liquid refreshment beverage segments, sports beverages suffered the harshest setback, with retail sales contracting by nearly 16% in 2009.

Consumers in some cases traded down to less expensive products and in many categories private label has grown. Bottled water has seen a reduction in price per case. Even private label waters lowered their price in the last two years. Not surprisingly, high–end imported waters are struggling. In the carbonated soft drink and fruit beverage categories, companies have remained relatively firm in their pricing despite volume contractions. Put simply, higher commodity costs means companies often must choose between volume and profit. Most opted for the latter, including Coke and Pepsi, who sought to avoid the rampant discounting of carbonated soft drinks that occurred in supermarkets in the 1990s. Private label is growing in no small part due to the improvements in the packaging and formulation of private label products over the past two decades. As a result, premium beverages like imported beer, high–end wine, enhanced water, sports and energy drinks have been hurt the most by the economic downturn.

New York City–based Beverage Marketing Corporation is the leading research, consulting and financial services firm dedicated to the global beverage industry. The U.S. Beverage Industry Confronts Economic Challenges is part of its Focus Reports series of concise reports on emerging beverage segments or on topics of particular interest to the beverage industry.

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