Introducing...... PERRIER !

Type of water: Mountain Spring Water

Presentation: Water with gas (heavily carbonated)

Country of Origin: France 

Region: Vergèze, département du Gard (South of France)

Year established: 1863

Company: Nestlé

Website: www.perrier.com

Since 1992 Perrier belong to Nestlé. Both of them are trying to convince social drinkers to start buying Perrier instead of a soft drink. The popularity of the brand grew as refreshing, all-natural, no-calorie drink.

Perrier water is particularly defined by large bubbles, trying to stimulate so that the water flushes to the surface. The water is distinguished by its natural carbonation, which comes from volcanic gases in the rocks.

The aim of Perrier is to be present on different markets. Now the brand has a good place on the market of the mineral waters. In 2000 the brand launch a new packaging for its product, the bottle of 50cl made in plastic. Easy to take away, and in fact the new format of the bottle has a large success. In order to increase its market share, the brand launches a new product in 2002: Perrier Fluo. The target for this new product is especially young people. The bottles give an image of “funny with attractive colors”. The drink is a mix of Perrier with natural flavoring. There are 4 flavors: Peppery mint, Ginger/cherry, Lemon/juniper, Orange/leeches. In 2003, Perrier launch “ Eau de Perrier”, water with very thin bubbles easier to drink during the meal than the original Perrier.

World Consumption

On the international market, the sparkling water segment represents 17% of world consumption.

- We can see that Europeans annual consumption is superior to the French consumption in general.

- Sparkling water seems to be very popular in Europe by far compared to other parts of the world. Sparkling water is usually associated with sodas in other countries.

A Quick Overview at the Market

When you arrive at the restaurant, the waiter always asks the same question "Would you rather have still or sparkling water ?" French or Italian ? Bottled or jared ? With or without ice ? If you think these are too many questions, well, you haven't seen anything yet because there are so many sparkling waters on the market ! 

In France, there are about 110 brands of waters, whether it’s still, sparkling of flavored waters. The water industry is concentrated into the hands of 3 big groups:

• Nestlé (Contrex, Perrier, Vittel) 
• Danone (Evian, Volvic, Badoit)
• Alma (Cristaline, St-Yorre, Vichy Célestins)

The 3 of them account for almost 70 % of the national production in volumes, and about 80% in terms of money value. French consumers still have a preference for still water although sparkling water consumption has exploded over the past years. In 2011, natural still water represented almost 84% of the market share in terms of volume and 50,5% in terms of sales value for grocery stores and supermarkets, according to resellers.

According to a Secodip survey in 2006, 61% of French people buy at least 1 bottle of sparkling water per year.

We Like to Drink Bubbles......

We decided to discuss about sparkling waters on this blog because everyone one of us in our team likes to have some sparkling water once in a while. Though it can be for different purposes, sparkling water seems to be a funny alternative to the ordinary taste of still water... So, are you willing to explore the secrets of the sparkling water industry with us ?

Before going into further comparison between the 2 most important French sparkling waters, Badoit & Perrier, we will first have a look at the actual bottled water market in France and try to explain who the leaders are what the tendencies are.

To illustrate our ideas, we will explain the different trends and strategies both companies have used for the past decades, providing you detailed information, as well as pictures and visual support (commercials).