Bottled Water: A C-Store Essential

The human body is made up approximately 60% water and water is one of the essential needs every person needs. While consumers can get water from their kitchen sink if they're thirsty, they enjoy the convenience of buying a bottle of water when they're out and about. Additionally, many swear that bottled water tastes better than the water from the tap.

For this reason, bottled water has been a staple of c-stores around the world and one of the highest selling items. Bottled water isn’t going anywhere, and as a c-store owner, it’s in your best interest to stock up on bottled water of all varieties.

According to a new market research study by Zion Market Research, the global bottled water market is expected to reach $280 billion by 2020. It’s safe to say that bottled water is here to stay and consumers are thirsty for more.

Bottled water has seen rapid expansion in recent years, and consumers are flocking to c-stores and small grocery chains to try the latest and greatest in the seemingly simple product.

It's just water in a bottle—there's not much to it, right?

Although bottled water may seem like a simple necessity that everyone needs, manufacturers across the globe are finding new and inventive ways to expand the differing water categories.

Here are the most common bottled water categories on the market today:

Luxury Brands

When thinking of “luxury water” brands, there are probably a few bottles you have in your store that come to mind. This category includes water bottled with glass bottles and additional minerals and vitamins. Consumers are usually willing to pay a higher price for these waters either because they are viewed as a fashion accessory, they genuinely care about extra vitamins and higher pH levels, or they are following the trends.

These bottles are generally higher priced, but the market for luxury water brands is only going to expand moving forward.

Affordable Water

This includes private label (the c-store's own brand) water as well. Affordable water is a favorite among most consumers that are simply looking for the convenience of having water while their on-the-go. This category can also be broken down into spring and purified.

Spring water is water that has been naturally taken from the earth from naturally flowing springs.

Purified water, on the other hand, is produced using different purification processes to eliminate contaminants.

Both have their pros and cons and most of the time they are distributed by national distributors making it convenient to order them with your same soft drink order.

Imported Water

This could go in the luxury category most of the time, but this includes fancy European carbonated water that comes in glass bottles and others with foreign names. These waters are typically much more expensive because of the import fees and the journey it took to make it to your c-store. Select consumers prefer imported waters, but they aren’t as popular as other luxury waters.

Where Bottled Water is Headed

With large beverage distributors jumping into luxury water category, expect to see even more glass-bottled, mineral-packed waters in the future. Market predictions suggest that it is a good investment to stock these higher-priced waters in your c-store for the upcoming sales year. It all depends on your location and customers, but if the situation is right, you could potentially have trouble keeping these waters on your shelves.