Bottled water vs cola

The prospect of bottled water sales overtaking cola in Britain has been heralded in the latest issue of The Grocer magazine. Danone’s Head of Category Development has said it will happen by 2017.

The retail figures for 2013 are impressive:

• bottled water value up 10.5%, soft drinks value up 3.9%
• 4% more households buying bottled water and 9% increase in average weight of purchase.

But can it really happen ? According to Nestlé, it already has – in the four weeks to 20 July 2013 – though only by volume rather than value.