CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE Till two decades back, drinking water was not a marketable packed product in our country. Since it was given free of cost all by nature, no one had such an idea of its marketability. Thus, the bottled water is a new product to the Indian consumers and there was no much effort taken to contribute more research in this field. On account of this fact, the researcher attempted to summarize some of the research studies undertaken in some other related study.
Brief review of the past studies related to bottled water Bohmer H, Resch K. (2000)1 in their article, “Mineral water or tap water- A systematic analysis of the literature concerning the question of microbial safety”, say that based on sporadic reports of microbial contamination of mineral waters, it has been recommended that, for safety reasons, particularly immuno compromised patients should drink tap water rather than bottled mineral water. However, in terms of safety, evidence of the clinical consequences may allow a better estimate than a positive in vitro test for contamination. Therefore, they reviewed the literature on documented disease outbreaks due to contaminated mineral and tap waters.
Cases of contamination of tap water were documented in nearly all countries. In 35 communications they found reports on a total of 423,000 cases of disease outbreaks due to contaminated tap water, in some cases even with lethal outcome. Main diagnosis was gastroenteritis, and main species of microorganism was crytosporidium. In contrast, there was no documented case of disease outbreak due to contaminated bottled mineral water.
Tap water as well as bottled water is both supremely safe components of nutrition. The recommendation that tap water is better than mineral water, particularly for high-risk patients, is not supported by the literature. Bohmer H, Resch KL, “Mineral water or tap water- A systematic analysis of the literature concerning 1 the question of microbial safety”, 2000, Available at www.gov/pubmed/10800246 13 Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.com to remove this watermark.Nithiyanandan (2000)2 in his project work entitled, “Market status of mineral water industry with a special reference to TEAM”, reflects that consumption patterns are changing in packaged mineral water industry. Mineral water is now served on trains and aeroplanes.
Besides the standard one-litre bottled water which is still the largest seller, a variety of pack sizes have been introduced. Mineral water is now available in 200ml pouch, and 500ml bottle, 1 litre and 2 litre bottle, 5 litre jar and 20 litre cane. In railway departments, trains run for two days may require about 50,000 litres of mineral water for a journey. In the modern day living, stressful working condition and demanding life style make the body lose its electrolytic balance.
With companies positioning mineral water as ramification of health, it has made the market potential limitless.Durai (2001)3 made an attempt to study the future prospectus of mineral water besides finding out the leading brand in Chennai city. In the case of fast moving packages, it has been revealed that one-litre bottles are more in demand accounting for 60 per cent of sales as against 10 per cent of sales of two litre bottles. The fast moving and leading brand was identified as Bisleri due to its taste and creditability of the company. He remarked that safe and reliable water distribution can no longer be taken for granted not even in the most developed countries and the consumer is quite willing to pay more for quality taking into consideration his own need, and his family health.
Catherine Ferrier (2001)4 in her discussion paper highlighted that bottled water quality is generally good, although it can suffer from the same contamination hazards as tap water. In Europe, natural mineral water quality is frequently tested, both by independent labs and by companies‟ internal services. These latter controls may not be fully reliable. Yet, it is not in the interest of the companies, who base their marketing strategies on the purity of their products, to hide away occasional and traceable contamination.
To make sure bottled water quality is as good as it is claimed to be, companies should release their quality tests on a day-to-day basis and make them available to a wide number of people, for instance through the internet. It is essential that 2 K.Nithiyanandan, “Market status of mineral water industry with a special reference to TEAM”,MBA project report department of Management Studies, Madurai Kamarajar University, Madurai, April 2000 3 G.Durai,”Future Prospectus of Mineral Water,” MBA Project Report Submitted to Department of Management Studies , Madurai Kamarjar University, Madurai, 2001 Catherine Ferrier, “Bottled Water: Understanding a social phenomenon”, Discussion Paper, April 2001 4 14 Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.com to remove this watermark. consumers have access to major information, directly on the bottles‟ labels, i., the “type” of water (natural mineral water, purified water, etc.), its mineral composition, and the location of the spring or the treatments this water might have undergone. International companies locally investing in bottled water businesses should make sure that the products are of good quality and packed in hygienic conditions, particularly in emerging and developing countries.
They should also be careful to the additional pressure they put on local water resources. re-using bottles of water in adequate sanitary conditions on a local basis, rather than just recycle or re-manufacture them into new products. Certification of local supplies under international brand names could reduce environmental impacts due to world-wide transportation of some bottled water brands. Could the current increase in bottled water consumption threaten local water resources, in particular, in countries already facing alarming water problems (i.
in Asia and the Pacific, where the major increase in bottled water consumption is taking place), either bottled water put an additional pressure on local water resources already under stress, or imported bottled water slightly reduces water stress. Benjamin Arnold and John Colford (2001)5 conducted a systematic analysis of major impact of using mineral water. The study revealed that the purity of water did not affect the children and the product is sold so that the quantity is maintained at the standard level, so as not to affect the health of the consumer including the children. However, the study suggested that yearly follow up is essential to assess the long-term acceptability and sustainability of health impacts.
Senthil kumar (2002)6 in his study focused to find out the sources of awareness of consumers towards mineral water and the individual consumption of mineral water. He found that advertisement is the best source of information as all the respondents are aware of mineral water. Majority of the respondents spend up to Rs.500 per month towards mineral water, consume mineral water for the one to two years having monthly 5 Benjamin F.Colford, Health impact of mineral water, Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of California, April 14, 2007, pp.S , “Marketing of mineral water study on consumer and let outlets in Coimbatore city”, M.Phil dissertation submitted to Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, 2002 15 Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.com to remove this watermark. consumption of up to 10 litres.
The packaged drinking water consumer is attracted by the benefits of easy accessibility, purity and hygiene and only a small segment of consumers have evolved to the level of being loyalists of good brand. The packaged drinking water is now served on trains, airlines and in parties. Besides, the companies have introduced bigger pack sizes to cater to a variety of needs. Packaged drinking water is available in 1 litre, 2 litre and 500ml bottles, 20 litre cane and 200 ml packets.
Bottled drinking water market in the country is poised for a quantum leap notwithstanding the stricter quality standards to be imposed by the Bureau of Indian Standards of manufacturing units. Gamble (2002)7 in their article made an attempt to study the bottled water industry that has experienced explosive growth during the past decade, largely due to a widely held consumer perception that bottled water is purer and healthier than tap water. Recent research raises questions about whether bottled water is actually better than tap water. Amid the controversy, there is a need to help clarify current consumer perceptions concerning water quality and purity and to examine associated new product-development implications.
A product concept test, among 386 bottled water consumers is used here to provide an evaluation of a proposed bottled water brand that would be produced by a local water company. Overall, the findings indicate that the product concept is promising, but needs some refinement. The managerial implications, particularly concerning additional purification of tap water and critical success factors, apply not only to the proposed product but also to many other entrants into the bottled water market. Ultimately, the bottled water market‟s attractiveness varies, depending on the competitive capabilities of the seller.
Industry competition is fierce, and successful sellers must possess core competencies related to low-cost production and packaged goods marketing. Bottled water, for the most part, is a commodity product that gains shelf space and sales through effective differentiation and image building. Retail exposure is also more easily gained by sellers that have some power in Gary L. Geissler and John E.
Gamble, “Straight from the Tap? Consumer Evaluation of a Bottled Water 7 Product Concept”, Journal of Food Products Marketing, Vol.19-32 16 Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.com to remove this watermark. their negotiations with retailers. Beverage buyers such as supermarkets, convenience stores, and mass merchandisers have considerable power to negotiate for the lowest price, unless the seller can offset that power with the attractiveness of their entire product line. Peter Jaer Jensen, Jeroen Ensink, Gayathri Jayasinghe (2002)8 had carried out a study on domestic transmission routes of Pathogens: the problems of in-house contamination of drinking water during storage in developing countries said that even if drinking water of poor rural communities is obtained from a sage source, it can become contaminated during storage in the house.
To investigate the relative importance of this domestic domain contamination, a five-week intervention study was conducted at 67 households in Punjab, Pakistan and were provided with new water storage pitcher, normally used in the area and the remaining 34 households received a narrow-necked water storage pitcher, preventing direct hand contact with the water. The result of their study showed that the domestic domain contamination with indicator bacteria is important only when the water source is relatively clean, that contains less than 100 Escherchia coli per 100 ml of water. When the number of Escherchia coli in the water source is above this value, interventions to prevent the domestic contamination would have an impact on water quality compared with public domain interventions. Although the bacteriological water quality improved, elimination of direct hand contact with the stored water inside the household could not prevent the occasional occurrence of extreme contamination values that are often thought to originate within the domestic domain have to be attributed to the public domain tranmisssion.
H B Mathur, Sapna Johnson Rashmi Mishra, Avinash Kumar, and Bhupinder Singh (2003)9 in their study titled “CSE Report on pesticide residues in bottled water”, analysed pesticide residues in bottled water. Pure drinking water is a luxury in India today. Most water sources are contaminated; waterborne diseases such as diarrhoea, dysentery, typhoid, jaundice and gastroenteritis are legion. Even the municipal water supply is not free of contaminants like pesticides, and heavy metals.
People either 8 Peter Jaer Jensen, Jeroen Ensink, Gayathri Jayasinghe, Tropical Mediane and international journal, Vol. 604-609, July 2002 9 Prof H B Mathur Dr Sapna Johnson Dr Rashmi Mishra,Mr Avinash Kumar Mr Bhupinder Singh CSE Report on “pesticide residues in bottled water” (Delhi region) 2003 17 Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.com to remove this watermark. boil water for drinking purpose or install purifiers. Of late, they have also turned to bottled water, available in the open market; this water is perceived as safe.
Given the human dependence on water, they cannot afford to be careless about the kind and quality of water they drink. Various top brands like Bisleri, Kinley, etc.
