Coke Launches Carbonated Smartwater In Expanded Sparkling Water Push
November 18 2015 - 5:42PM
Dow Jones News
By Mike Esterl
Soda giant Coca-Cola Co. is wading deeper into the small but
fast-growing sparkling water category as it tries to compete with
popular brands like Perrier and LaCroix.
The maker of Coke, Sprite and Fanta said Wednesday it will begin
selling a carbonated version of its smartwater brand this month in
some restaurants, hotels and stores in New York City, Los Angeles
and Miami. It plans a broader rollout next year.
The move follows a decadelong decline in U.S. sales volumes of
traditional flavored sodas industrywide. Americans have been
scaling back on regular soda amid obesity concerns. More recently
they've been dropping diet soda to avoid artificial sweeteners.
But consumption of bottled water is rising rapidly--especially
if it has bubbles. Although it remains a niche category, carbonated
bottled water sales increased 10% to $786 million last year in the
U.S., according to industry tracker Euromonitor International.
Coke and chief soda rivals PepsiCo Inc. and Dr Pepper Snapple
Group Inc. have some catching up to do. Nestlé SA is the industry
leader in carbonated bottled water, with four of the five
top-selling brands in the U.S. last year, led by Perrier and S.
Pellegrino. National Beverage Corp.'s LaCroix was the No. 3 brand,
according to Euromonitor.
A PepsiCo spokeswoman said Wednesday the company plans to launch
new flavored sparkling waters under its Aquafina brand in the U.S.
next year, but declined to share more details. It recently stopped
selling Aquafina FlavorSplash, a line of flavored sparkling waters
it rolled out in 2013.
Dr Pepper Snapple said its unflavored Schweppes and Canada Dry
sparkling waters are posting strong growth. The company also is
broadening U.S. distribution of Penafiel, a Mexican sparkling water
brand.
Coke's carbonated, unflavored smartwater will have a suggested
retail price of $1.99 for a one-liter bottle, similar to its
noncarbonated smartwater. Smartwater is one of Coke's
fastest-growing brands with actress Jennifer Aniston as a
pitchwoman. The company also has positioned it as a premium brand
by adding electrolytes and likening its vapor-distilled
purification to the formation of clouds.
Smartwater isn't Coke's first foray into sparkling water. The
company launched flavored sparkling waters under its Dasani brand
in late 2013 and sells unflavored Seagram's carbonated water. It
plans to launch a carbonated version of its Minute Maid with 6%
juice content early next year.
Write to Mike Esterl at mike.esterl@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 18, 2015 17:27 ET (22:27 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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