Saturday,
June 16, 2007
Romans had their Aqueducts, Modern Italians
their Bottled Water
The
ANNOTICO Report
Paradoxically,
However,
Last year, Health conscious Italians downed 178 litres
of bottled water each - more than four times that of their counterparts in
Fortunately, about 120 companies battle it out in
Derisively, Italian comedian Beppe Grillo calls
bottled water - "putting rain in a bottle and then making you
pay for it"
Bottled Water: Rain in a Bottle?
Independent Online -
By Deepa
Babington
June 15 2007
Legend has it that the ancient Romans refreshed
themselves with the bubbly water that springs out of an extinct volcano near
Naples, a reference to which can be found even in philosopher Pliny the Elder's
works.
A marketing dream perhaps, but not enough to stop the
company that bottles that water, Ferrarelle, from
sliding into losses a few years ago as competition heated up in
Now in the hands of a new owner, Ferrarelle
has begun an ambitious plan to return to its glory days. But competition has
become even more cut-throat and today it is one of about 120 companies battling
it out in
Thirsty
Italians can chose from as many as 270 brands of bottled water, driving down
prices and margins over the past few years.
"If you enter a big store today, you don't buy its
water because it's good, you buy it because it has a lower price," said
Carlo Pontecorvo, the Neapolitan entrepreneur who
took over the Ferrarelle business in 2005. "It's
a market where pricing is the only guide for purchasing."
It's easy to see why the rush is on.
Fresh water sources are abundant in
Last year, they downed 178 litres
of bottled water each - more than four times that of their counterparts in
That's nearly six percent of the $122-billion global
bottled water market, dominated by multinationals such as Danone
of France whose brands also include Evian and Volvic,
and Swiss group Nestle, parent of Perrier and Vittel.
Paradoxically, this is a country where plenty of clean
water flows freely from public taps and fountains in the streets of cities like
But health-conscious Italians still prefer to reach for
the bottled version, looking to the label and packaging for a guarantee that
tap water can't provide.
Despite Italian comedian Beppe
Grillo's outrage over bottled water - he calls it
"putting rain in a bottle and then making you pay for it" - few
Italians seem perturbed by the environmental costs of using plastic bottles
daily.
"It's a cultural thing. Italian consumers want to
buy bottled water even if tap water has been tested and proven safe," said
One of the oldest Italian bottled water brands and the
No.3 player in
Commercially bottled for the first time in 1893, Ferrarelle passed through the hands of various Italian
families before Danone scooped it up. Those were the
days when rival brands were few and the Italian market among the most
profitable around.
Along the way it had become a household name in
To this day workers at its gleaming bottling factory in
the verdant countryside outside
Nevertheless, high costs and fierce competition had
pushed Ferrarelle into the red and by 2004 it was on
the block again.
New owner Pontecorvo arrived
with his work cut out as falling prices exposed the company's high costs, old
bottling machinery and poor productivity.
So he moved the company's rented headquarters out of
To tap into the premium segment of the market, Ferrarelle also introduced a high-end "Platinum"
line featuring an architect-designed bottle that can set you back more than 5
(about R50) at a top restaurant.
The company is also looking abroad, applying for a
permit to restart exports to the
After three years of losses and new initiatives, Pontecorvo says his business is finally headed for breakeven
this year. But he's also hoping consolidation in the industry will soon follow
- and stop the price free fall.
"
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id
=143&art_id=nw20070615142238122C996879
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