Goals
Build an overview of the sparking water sector in Canada, including information about competitors of the Montellier brand, consumer trends and key demographics, covering the last 2-3 years. Determine the motivations of Canadian and/or US customers in buying sparkling water. The information gathered will be used to prepare for a briefing to the Montellier company.
Early Findings
- Sparkling water sales in Canada have risen by 17% between 2016 and 2017.
- Some users drink it because they think it is healthy, and can be an alternative for soda, without sugar.
- Canadians like to drink water, including sparkling because they tend to choose healthier alternatives.
- In the US, younger consumers are attracted by sparkling water as millenials are more sensitive to health issues.
- The Canadian sparkling water market has a lot of brands, each with their own difference: Canada Dry and Schweppes are marketed as grocery store brands, Q Club is seen as more exclusive.
- The industry includes two types of products: Mineral and Non Mineral Sparkling water.
- In the Non Mineral sparkling water segment, Canady Dry and Schweppes dominate the market in Canada.
- In the Mineral sparkling water segment, there are four main brands in Canada: Gerolsteiner, Topo Chico, San Pellegrino, and Perrier.
- In terms of marketing, Perrier Canada publishes posts on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
- San Pellegrino Canada use Facebook for their online marketing.
- Both San Pellegrino and Perrier are owned by Nestlé Waters Canada.
- A report released in 2017 by Nielsen found that flat water sales represented $539 million and carbonated or sparkling water $196 million. However, the growth rate of flat water was only 6% compared to 17% for sparkling water.
Proposed Next Steps
Our initial research shows that sparkling water is a growing market in Canada, notably due to young millenials drinking it as a healthier alternative to sugary drinks.
- We propose to write a competitive analysis of the 3-4 main competitors of Montellier, focusing on their marketing strategy, consumers demographics and competitive advantages. (3 Hours,$75)
- Additionally, another research could cover an overview of the sparkling water market in Canada, including consumer trends, demographics and main reasons to buy sparkling water.(3 Hours, $75)
It would also be important to confirm if the sparkling market would include just natural sparkling water or all types of sparkling water (flavored, artificially carbonated, sweetened, etc..)