Although off-trade volume and current value sales of bottled water have seen growth for many years, the rates of growth have increased in 2020, due to COVID-19. Consumers spent more time at home as a result of the virus, with working and studying from home becoming more common during the year to try and limit its spread. Many consumers also stockpiled such products at the beginning of the pandemic for fear of shortages. In addition, the temporary and sometimes permanent closure of on-trade…

While bottled water is considered a necessity for the majority of households in most parts of the Philippines, the quarantine lockdown that was announced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic during between the middle of March and the end of May 2020 resulted in declines being seen in total volume sales of bottled water over the course of the year. The main factor contributing to the overall sales decline seen in the category during the year was the unavailability of on-trade outlets due to…

Bottled water has experienced mixed fortunes in off-trade during the COVID-19 crisis. Sales have been bolstered by stockpiling, as consumers have been concerned about supply shortages and have looked to reduce the frequency of shopping trips. In addition, there has been an increase in at-home consumption due to the closure of schools and workplaces and government advice to stay at home. However, the same factors have resulted in a decline in impulse sales and on-the-go consumption, which…

On-trade consumption of bottled water has fallen abruptly in 2020 as a result of the closure of bars, cafés and restaurants during lockdown and the fact that outlets were forced to operate at limited capacity when reopened in order to maintain social distancing. The collapse of international tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic has also had a marked impact on on-trade sales of bottled water, as inbound tourists represent a key consumer group for businesses in many parts of Spain. While…

Bottled water has suffered a significant decline in on-trade value sales in 2020, due to the impact of COVID-19. The temporary closure of foodservice establishments negatively impacted sales of both still and carbonated bottled water, with these closures sometimes becoming permanent. The return to foodservice has also been slow in 2020, as consumers have remained concerned about the potential for contracting the virus in crowded places, as well as cost-conscious. This therefore led to more…

With consumer staying at home for longer periods of time during 2020, off-trade sales of bottled water is set to increase slightly compared to 2019; however, the shift is not as considerable as in other areas. However, carbonated water is set to record a bigger increase than the category as a total, moving from 3% volume growth in 2019, to 6% in 2020. However, for flavoured bottled water and functional bottled water, off-trade sales have moved from positive growth in 2019, to a prediction of…

Due to the Malaysian government’s stay-at-home orders and social distancing measures in 2020 in response to the outbreak of COVID-19, consumers have been buying more bottled water in retail. When the Movement Control Order (MCO) was put in place from 18 March, there was a move to buying water in bulk quantities and in bigger packs. However, this was more relevant to still purified bottled water and still natural mineral bottled water than to carbonated and flavoured options. Furthermore,…

Bottled water has seen mixed results in response to COVID-19. During March and April when the number of COVID-19 cases first started to rise there was some stockpiling seen of still natural mineral bottled water. Consumers in Japan have become well versed in preparing for emergencies having experienced several natural disasters in recent years. This stockpiling resulted in some retailers’ shelves being left bare, although this did not last long with supplies soon replenished. Having seen an…

Discounters and supermarkets remain the main beneficiaries of the COVID-19 lockdown in Ireland, as most other retail channels were forced to close during the tight restrictions, causing solid increases in value sales for these distribution channels. Equally, the lockdown restriction also inspired stockpiling, as consumers rushed to bulk buy less expensive variants of bottled water, in particular Tesco, Aldi and Lidl brands, in anticipation of water shortages.

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Volume sales of bottled water have seen a decline in both foodservice and retail, but particularly foodservice. The closure of foodservice outlets and the great reduction in dine-in availability in Indonesia as part of lockdown measures have greatly contributed to the decrease in bottled water sales. The large-scale social distancing measures that began on 7 April, which resulted in consumers working and studying from home, have been a main reason for the lower volume sales in this category…

The outbreak of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Germany saw consumers stockpile essentials, including bulk purchases of bottled water. As a result, off-trade volume and current value sales of bottled water have enjoyed fast growth. The extent of stockpiling is reflected in the difficulties of some bottlers to meet rising demand as not enough bottles were returned to the system to be refilled again. While lockdown led to a spike in at-home consumption and higher retail sales of bottled…

The strongest impact on retail sales of bottled water in France during 2020 was not the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, rising off-trade sales of bottled water were mainly the result of the heatwave that swept across France during summer. Although retail sales of bottled water were strongly supported by the high levels of stockpiling seen in the country during the early stages of the COVID-19 situation, this stockpiling trend was only temporary and retail sales collapsed again during April and…

Bottled water saw stockpiling in the initial phase of the pandemic in Colombia. However, this eased as consumers became aware that the situation was ongoing, and supplies gradually normalised. However, the stockpiling culture is likely remain – albeit to a lesser extent – in future. Still purified bottled water saw the strongest performance in volume terms in 2020, as increasingly health-conscious consumers perceived this product as offering strong benefits in the COVID-19 environment.…

Off-trade bottled water consumption in Brazil surged during the early months of 2020 following a severe deterioration in the quality of tap water in Rio de Janeiro. This widely reported crisis damaged public confidence in the safety of tap water generally, leading people across the country to switch to bottled water. Off-trade bottled water consumption during this period was further bolstered by summer seasonality and Carnival festivities.

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Overall off-trade volume sales saw a 4% rise in 2020, compared to 2019’s decline by the same amount. All product areas turned in a positive performance in terms of volume growth, having all been in decline in 2019 with the exception of functional bottled water. In 2019, functional bottled water led growth with a 28%, which surged to 63% in 2020. The lowest rise was seen in carbonated purified bottled water, with an increase of 1% that is nonetheless an improvement on 2019’s decline by 7%.…

The increased number of people working from home in 2020, particularly in urban areas, will result in strong growth in off-trade sales volumes of still bottled water. Another factor supporting this growth in off-trade consumption is the drought in Azerbaijan from June - September, during which there were problems with the supply of tap water in several areas. A reduction in on-the-go consumption for the duration of the quarantine period led to a decline in retail sales of 0.5L bottles, while…

The impact of the complete shutdown of the consumer foodservice industry during the initial nationwide quarantine put enormous pressure on bottled water foodservice sales in 2020. The situation was exacerbated by the shift towards home working for office workers, service industry personnel and white-collar professionals. This resulted in substantial declines in business-to-business sales and limited demand for on-trade bottled water due to the reduction in the number of people commuting to…

2020 saw dramatic declines in demand for Asian speciality drinks in Vietnam as on-trade sales plummeted. The main reason for the negative trends seen in foodservice sales in the category during the year was the complete shutdown of the Vietnamese consumer foodservice industry during March and April as the country strove to gain control over the spread of the COVID-19 virus during the early stages of the pandemic. Although a shift towards the retail channel was noted in the category as the…

While there has been no stockpiling of this category since the outbreak of COVID-19, retail volume sales have been growing stably in the year. This is due to the fact that certain flavours of Asian speciality drinks (such as grass jelly) are popular due to their benefit of lowering body temperature because of their cooling effect, with consumers thus buying more the products given that high temperatures are a symptom of COVID-19. Home seclusion has also encouraged more regular purchasing of…

Asian speciality drinks was well positioned to benefit from the increased focus on health brought about by COVID-19. Nevertheless, retail volume sales have continued to decline in 2020, albeit at a slower rate than in 2019. The key product types within Asian speciality drinks in Japan are lactobacillus drinks and vinegar drinks. Lactobacillus drinks have seen rising popularity supported by increasing consumer interest in prebiotic and probiotic products in areas such as yoghurt. Meanwhile,…