Sparkling Water Survey: Consumers View Product as Healthy Alternative

Sparkling water has gained popularity in recent years, just as sales of soda have decreased according to data from The Huffington Post. Brands like La Croix and Sparkling Ice have emerged as healthy alternatives to sugary drinks, even though they’ve been available to consumers for years. So how many consumers regularly consume sparkling water? And what are some of the factors that have led to its popularity? We asked 1,000 respondents on October 5-9 about their opinions of sparkling water and other beverages.

Beverage Consumers

In Ask Your Target Market’s latest survey, just 13% of respondents said that they drink sparkling water regularly. 84% drink regular water. And 50% drink soda regularly. 88% of beverage consumers said they normally purchase drinks from the grocery store. 37% buy beverages at restaurants. 35% shop at convenience stores. 21% buy drinks from coffee shops or cafes. 16% buy drinks from bars. And 11% go to specialty stores to purchase their beverages.

Sparkling Water

In general, 14% of respondents said that they purchase sparkling or flavored water beverages on a regular basis. 19% said they’ve bought sparkling water many times. And 29% have purchased it at least once. Sparkling Ice, Perrier, DaSani, Aquafina, Vitamin Water and La Croix were named as popular brands by those respondents. But many also didn’t remember what brands they had purchased.

In terms of flavor, 43% said that they like lemon-flavored sparkling water. 42% just like plain sparkling water. 37% enjoy raspberry. 36% like cherry. 29% like orange. 26% like watermelon. 23% like lime flavored sparkling water. 21% like cranberry. And 16% like coconut.

Growing Popularity

Overall, 54% of respondents said that they think sparkling water is a trendy beverage. 45% agree that it’s a healthy beverage. And 62% think that sparkling water is a good alternative to soda.

Looking forward, 42% think that sparkling water is likely to gain more popularity in the next couple of years. And 43% said that they are at least somewhat likely to actually purchase sparkling water in the next couple of years. Of those who have already purchased sparkling water at least once, 61% said they are likely to purchase again in the next couple years. And of those who said that sparkling water is a good alternative to soda, 62% said they are likely to purchase in the next couple years.

Key Takeaways

Sparkling water may be a growing segment of the food and beverage market. But it still isn’t as popular as soda. However, since more than half of consumers feel that it would be a good alternative to soda, it’s possible that sparkling water brands could benefit from creating marketing materials that specifically position their product against soda. In addition, there are several brands that are somewhat popular with sparkling or flavored water consumers – but there isn’t one that really stands out among the rest in the minds of consumers. So there is room for brands to improve in terms of brand recognition and gaining a fairly sizeable piece of the sparkling water market.

You can view the complete survey results in the widget below and be sure to click “Open Full Report” to take advantage of all the chart and filter options.

Photo Credit: Sparkling water bottles by Ricardo Bernardo under CC BY-ND 2.0

‍What do you want to know? If you need some consumer insights on a particular topic, let us know in the comments below and we’ll consider it for an upcoming survey post.

Results were collected on October 5-9 via AYTM’s online survey panel.