4 out of 10 Romanians usually consume still mineral bottled water most often, study reveals

• 4 out of 10 Romanians (40.8%) usually consume still mineral bottled water most often while 17.5% consume carbonated mineral bottled water.

• 51% of Romanians believe that tap water is not completely safe and that it can cause health problems if consumed unfiltered.

• For 42% of Romanians, the quality of the product is directly proportional to the bottling of water.

In the context in which Romania was on the 10th place in 2018 in terms of bottled water consumption, the level being below the average of 119 liters per capita (EFBW), Reveal Marketing Research resolves to investigate what is the current situation regarding the consumption of bottled water in our country. What water do Romanians tend to consume most often, what is their take on tap water,  what are the selection criteria and important attributes when buying bottled water?

Bottled Water over Tap Water

The Reveal Marketing Research study found that 52% of Romanians believe that tap water is not completely safe and that drinking it can be harmful to our health. The second segment, consisting of 30.4% of respondents – believe that they can drink tap water without filtering it while not having any side effects on their health. A percentage of 18.6% is represented by Romanians who believe that tap water completely harmful and prefer to drink only bottled water.

What are the top 3 criteria based on which Romanians choose their still mineral water?

•   Product quality (45.4%).
•   Affordable price (41.5%).
•   Source / spring (23.8%).

What are the top 3 criteria based on which Romanians choose their carbonated mineral water?

•   Product quality (42.2%) – as in the case of flat mineral water, the quality of the product is an important factor, consumers opting for s a brand that they consider qualitative.
•   Affordable price (37%) – determining factor both in the acquisition of carbonated mineral water and in the acquisition of flat mineral water.
•   Water composition (24.6%).

Affordable price and high quality are the top 3 attributes when it comes to buying bottled water

Reveal Marketing Research took note of the most important attributes for Romanians when buying bottled water. Thus, the study reached the following conclusions regarding still mineral water: the most important attribute mentioned by 40.6% of consumers is price affordability, followed by high product quality mentioned by 32.6%, then the attribute on water purity mentioned by 31.3%. As far as carbonated mineral water goes, the most important attributes are both: high product quality (38.6%), price affordability (38.3%) and water purity (30.2%).

These results may be useful for bottled water companies at communication level. In order to identify the best communication strategies with the target audience, brands can use brand image studies to find out what aspects influence their current level of notoriety through the safety they convey and what they can do to improve it.

In addition to the level of notoriety, the study also analyzed the declared consumption of bottled water and identified what are the environments from which Romanians consume on average. Thus, the first place belongs to the urban environment (44%), respectively the rural environment (36.7%).