S. Korean sparkling water market rapidly grows

The Korean sparkling water market is rapidly growing on burgeoning demand from female consumers in their 20s and 30s who keep abreast of recent beauty and health trends.

According to 11street, the nation's leading e-commerce service operator run by SK Planet Co, on Thursday, the most popular bottled sparkling water online is found to be "Trevi" of Lotte Chilsung Beverage Co. followed by Coca-Cola Co.'s "Seagram" and Woongjin Foods Co.'s "Victoria,".

The e-commerce portal looked into consumers who purchased carbonated water for the past three years and found its consumption rose 54 percent on-year in 2013, 122 percent in 2014 and 45 percent last year. Thanks to the boom, not only homegrown sparkling water brands including Trevi, Seagram and Victoria, but also offshore brands like Perrier from France, San Pellegrino and Acqua Panna from Italy, also saw their sales increase.

The market expansion was led by young ladies in their 20s and 30s, accounting for 38 percent of total sales last year, according to 11street. The portal's survey of 500 consumers in their 20s - 40s Wednesday also found that the biggest appeal of fizzy water is its zero calorie that substitutes soda (27 percent). Others chose sparkling water over plain water (25.6 percent) and fruit juice (21.6 percent).

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