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Water enhancers in Europe. Is it a trend or a fad?
Kraft launched MiO in USA at 2011. During several years they managed to create a huge business out of it. MiO sales nearly doubled to more than $100 million through the first nine months of 2012. Not long ago they launched MiO in UK. It would be very interesting to know what their sales turnover in UK is. Four years ago a lot of people thought that energy shots will be a next big thing in Europe. However, at the end of the day we saw that this category was not suitable for European consumer. Today we are asking whether water enhancers will be popular in Europe or not?
Our society is being driven by trends and I think that this category was created specifically to match top trends that we currently have:
- Personalization. People love mixing flavors, increasing or decreasing dosage of flavor in their water.
- Convenience. It’s very convenient to add 60ml bottle in your pocket and take it with you basically anywhere.
- Fast life pace. Nowadays, consumers want things quickly.
I believe that Kraft did well enough by using these trends to develop their MiO water enhancer. However, is it enough? I don’t think so. I do not think so that this current concept (like MiO is) is well suited for Europe.
Europeans are more health aware compared to Americans. We have the same society trends (as I mentioned before), however, main big difference is that we love to live a healthy life. Does it mean that water enhancers will not be popular in Europe? It doesn’t. We have a market for these products, however, I don’t think it will be big enough for multinational brands.
In my opinion, Europe needs a bit different concept. It should be healthy, low calories, no sugar and functional. It should be healthy, natural and functional. European consumers loves that. We just need to adapt the concept to our local needs.
This article was also published in MyDrink Beverages blog.
