America's new favorite beverage: bottled water?
What鈥檚 America鈥檚 new favorite beverage?
It鈥檚 definitely not soda. According to data from Beverage Marketing Inc., Americans are renewing their affections for bottled water. Sales of bottled water increased by 7.9 percent in 2015. The marketing firm that sales could continue to accelerate into this year, ultimately overtaking soda sometime in 2016.
Demand for bottled water has skyrocketed in the past decade, despite environmental concerns. Only 82 percent of the 42.6 billion plastic bottles purchased every year , which means an estimated 18 percent, or 7.7 billion, are thrown in the trash.
Bottled water's opponents also argue that tap water is cleaner and safer. The latter undergoes multiple daily tests by the EPA, while bottled water only has to undergo weekly tests.
But the inexpensiveness and convenience of bottled water, along with its lack of calories, has led to a massive surge in popularity, especially against soda and other soft drinks. Consumers are also drinking less soda overall, from 53.7 gallons per person in 2000 down to 38.9 gallons per person in 2015.
Beverage Marketing Inc.鈥檚 data show that soda isn鈥檛 just losing volume and market share against bottled water. It鈥檚 also losing ground against beverages like ready-to-drink coffee and energy drinks. Soda sales fell by 1.5 percent overall last year.
Coca-Cola鈥檚 first-quarter sales performance bears that out. Soda sales in the US continue to decline, but sales of Coke-owned still beverage brands like Dasani and Minute Maid jumped by 7 percent. Coca-Cola is addressing the challenge by diversifying its product portfolio with smaller soda containers and emphasizing its healthier choices. The company is also focusing on rising soda consumption in other areas of its global market share, especially in Asia, where sales are growing. On Tuesday, Coca-Cola announced that it would be consolidating its product line under the 鈥�One Brand鈥� umbrella, a suite of beverage logos for its four core soda products that can be easily identified in any market.
PepsiCo also no longer relies as heavily on its namesake product. The company said on Monday that of its sales come from soda. Increasingly, consumers are choosing Pepsi鈥檚 鈥渆veryday nutrition鈥� products instead, like Naked juice and bottled water.
Like Coke, Pepsi is responding to changing consumer attitudes by diversifying its brands apart from soda. In January Pepsi ventured into the restaurant business when it launched the Kola House restaurant in New York. Since then, Pepsi has also introduced several craft sodas in a bid to attract Millennials鈥� diverse beverage tastes, including the 1893 premium soda label and Caleb鈥檚 Kola. Both labels hearken back to Pepsi鈥檚 early history -- the brand was founded in 1893 by Caleb Bradham, a pharmacist -- and use edgy packaging to appeal to those who might not be inclined to reach for a soda first in the cooler.
Early reactions to Pepsi's craft soda brands have been mixed, but on the bottled water front, the shift seems to be working. Brands Dasani and Aquafina, which are owned by Coca-Cola and Pepsi, respectively, now account for 11 percent of domestic bottled water sales.
