India 4th Largest Market for Smartwater: Coca-Cola

The volume growth of 4 per cent during the third quarter of 2019 is driven by India, China and Southeast Asia in the Asia Pacific region, according to the US-based beverages company.

The company said that India is the fourth largest market globally for the premium bottled water brand known as ‘smartwater’.

In the year, company has broadened its framework and successfully increased its business in the smartwater in India, becoming the second largest premium water brand in the market since its launch in 2018. Coca-Cola said, “India is now the fourth-largest market globally for the smartwater brand, with a target to be in 90,000 outlets by the end of 2019.”

According to the company, water, enhanced water and sports drinks has grown by 2 per cent during the quarter “led by the Ciel and Cristal brands in Latin America and strong growth in Dasani internationally as well as Kinley in India, partially offset by the deprioritisation of low-margin commodity water in China.”

The revenue of the company grew by 8 per cent to reach US$ 9.5 billion and profit jumped by 38 per cent to US$ 2.6 billion.

The Coca-Cola Company chairman and CEO James Quincey said, “Our performance gives us confidence that our strategies are taking hold with our consumers, customers and system.”

He added, “We are positioning the company to create a better shared future for all of our stakeholders by delivering on our vision and growing sustainably.”

The Coca-Cola brand global retail value grew by 6 per cent year-to-date “through an accelerated pace of innovation and optimizing price pack architecture in the marketplace.”

The Glaceau smartwater first introduced it in US market in 1996 and was acquired by Coca-Cola in 2007. It is now available in countries like UK, Australia, Canada and Middle East. It can be considered as Coca-Cola’s one of the billion-dollar brand.

Source: IBEF

Image Courtesy: Kanbam