In 2020, the sales of bottled water in Greek supermarkets increased


Tuesday, March 23, 2021


The sales of bottled water in Greek supermarkets increased during the last year, both in volume and value, within all bottled water subcategories, with the sole exception of table water which has a slight downward trend. Τhe conclusion is based on Nielsen data for this market. According to Nielsen data, for the twelve months from 1 February 2020 to 31 January 2021 the total sales of bottled water exceeded 540 million liters, recording an increase of 3.1% compared to the corresponding period of the previous year (524,26 million liters). The increase in the value of sales was even greater, reaching 3.7%, and specifically 115.30 million euros. The vast majority of sales concern mineral and table water, while sparkling water represents approximately 5% of volume and about 15% of sales value. However, the upward trend of the subcategory of sparkling water is remarkable, which during the examined 12 months moved upwards +19.7% in volume and to + 18.5% in value.

Mineral water upward, table water downward

Regarding the dominant subcategories, mineral and table water had opposite paths, during the examined 12 months. Mineral water increased sales by 5.6% in volume, reaching 300 million liters, and by 4.5% in value, reaching 64.32 million euros. On the contrary, in table waters category sales decreased by 1.3% in volume, to 219.47 million liters, and by 3.8% or 1.3 million euros in value, to 33.62 million euros.

The two ‘small’ subcategories with remarkable increase

In addition to the aforementioned subcategories, two more subcategories are interesting as they have low sales but have recorded a high increase during recent months, as the global trend towards products with added nutritional value seems to affect our country. Thus, the subcategory of flavored waters grew during the twelve months by 69.6% in volume, approaching 3 million liters, and by 53% in value, reaching 4.6 million euros. A similar trend was recorded in the subcategory of vitamin waters, which grew by 68.3% in volume (89,944 liters) and by 60% in value (303,311 euros).

The share of the private label

As about the private label penetration in the industry, Nielsen figures indicate a slight decrease in the share of private label waters, which still represent almost the 1/3 of sales in volume and almost the ?  in value. Specifically, the share of the private label during the examined twelve months fell from 32.9% to 32% in volume and from 24.7% to 23.6% in value.

Spiros Pistikos

Source; FoodReporter #0469/22-03-2021

Image ; upklyak & tartila/Freepik