Korea’s bottled water market to reach W1tr by 2020.
South Korea’s bottled water market is expected to surpass 1 trillion won ($890 million) by 2020 on the back of rising popularity among single-person households and the use of online shopping platforms, according to a local market research firm.
Between 2010 and 2016, the bottled water market posted 6.7 percent average annual growth, while the average annual growth of overall nonalcoholic beverages marked relatively lower at 4.7 percent during the same period, according to a report from Taurus Investment and Securities last Wednesday.
In 2016, Korea‘s bottled water market was 740 billion won, gaining 15.5 percent on-year.
The domestic sales of bottled water in 2015 was valued at some 640 billion won, the report showed.
“The expansion of the bottled water market is largely due to the increase in single-person households, who tend to shop often at convenience stores,” said Park Jae-il, a researcher at Taurus Investment and Securities.
“Beverage sales at convenience stores accounted for 40.3 percent, while sales at discount stores accounted for 14 percent,” added Park Jin-sol from the research company.
The market size of bottled water is forecast to increase further to 1 trillion won by 2020, as the proportion of single-person households is expected to continue its upward trend and rise to 30 percent by 2020.
During the first five months this year, the sales of bottled water on online retailer 11st Street website recorded 27 percent growth on-year, according to the company.
By Shim Woo-hyun (ws@heraldcorp.com)