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Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, announces the results of the end-user study, Voice of the Customer: Perceptions and Behaviors toward Bottled Water Markets. The research measures APAC consumers' brand awareness, brand perceptions, current usage, satisfaction levels (and reasons for satisfaction/dissatisfaction) with current bottled water brands, reasons for purchasing bottled water and features deemed important in bottled water products. This research surveyed bottled water and water filter consumers within Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, and Thailand.
The bottled water market in the APAC region is dotted by many players who are strong and may dominate in their own countries, but not across the APAC region. As such, the bottled water market is localized within countries, and many bottled water manufacturers/brands do not distribute their products within all surveyed APAC countries. With multiple regional brands operating across the APAC, perceptions of bottled water brands vary within APAC countries and brand preference is not aligned.
Aqua, Samsadoo and Singha lead for unaided awareness, whilst Amshore, Nestle and Aqua have the best brand perceptions. In the country analysis, Amshore and Aqua are most consumed in Malaysia, whilst Nestle and Singha have strong brand reputations among consumers in Thailand. Global food/beverage brands such as Coca Cola and Nestle are at least present in most of the APAC countries surveyed, albeit in small percentages.
Although Aqua is the brand of bottled water known by most APAC consumers, Amshore is the brand of bottled water most regularly consumed, although this is heavily influenced by consumers in Malaysia and Singapore. Overall, brand perception results closely align with consumption results and consumption by brand is localized as well.
Fifty percent of APAC respondents consume bottled water daily, whilst twenty-five percent consume bottled water twice weekly. Although the consumption rate is mostly aligned within APAC, the country analysis shows more consumers in Indonesia and Thailand consume bottled water regularly, compared to other APAC consumers.
Tonya Fowler, Global Director with Frost & Sullivan's Customer Research Team says APAC consumers rate the 'quality' of water to be the most important feature, regarding bottled water as a better and safer option to drinking tap water. Supporting these results, the largest proportion of APAC consumers state their reason for purchasing bottled water are primarily because it is perceived as safer and cleaner than tap water. Taste, affordable price and availability are the other features that influence purchasing decisions.
Overall, the APAC region is aligned regarding the top-three bottle water features – quality of water, taste, and affordable price. However, South Korean consumers rate affordable price as slightly less important. Brand name is of minimal importance among APAC consumers.
"These results suggest manufacturers should promote their brands surrounding the purity/source and quality of their bottled water products. However, only a small proportion of APAC consumers actually think their tap water is unsafe to drink so bottled water manufacturers should temper marketing campaigns and avoid aggressive advertising utilizing scare tactics. Given other important attributes stated by APAC consumers, manufacturers could also consider focusing on the taste and convenience of bottled water" analyzes Fowler.
Overall, satisfaction with the top regularly consumed bottled water brands is fairly high. Satisfaction among consumers of Singha is highest with 96% of respondents very/somewhat satisfied. The survey also showed types of bottled water consumed are not aligned throughout APAC as consumers in Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, and Thailand prefer mineral water, while consumers in Indonesia, Australia, and South Korea prefer spring water.
This survey was conducted by Frost & Sullivan's Customer Research Team, working in conjunction with Frost & Sullivan's Environment & Building Technologies Team. Specifically, the Customer Research Team conducts independent, unbiased research among end-users to evaluate and measure companies and trends in the market.
For more information, please send an email to Donna Jeremiah, Corporate Communications, at djeremiah[.]frost.com, with your full name, company name, title, telephone number, company email address, company web site, city, state and country. Upon receipt of the above information, an overview will be sent to you by email.
About Frost & Sullivan
Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth and achieve best in class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined research and best practice models to drive the generation, evaluation and implementation of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages over 45 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment community from more than 35 offices on six continents.
Contact:
Carrie Low
Corporate Communications – Southeast Asia
P: +603 6204 5910
F: +603 6201 7402
E: carrie.low[.]frost.com.
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djeremiah[.]frost.com 
