Nongfu Spring launches green bottled drinking pure water and breaks into the hinterland of pure water.

After the listing of China Resources Beverage in Hong Kong, Nongfu Spring launched "Green Bottle" purified water on April 23rd, claiming that it originated from ten natural water sources such as Qiandao Lake, Emei Mountain and Danjiangkou. This move was interpreted as Nongfu Spring challenging Wahaha, Ipoh and other brands, with the intention of going deep into the hinterland of pure water market.

According to the analysis of the industry, the growth of Nongfu Spring’s drinking water business is weak, so by introducing new products to fill the gap in the market, it is essentially a comprehensive and all-category contest with competing products. Since Wahaha and Ipoh have set foot in the mineral water market before, Nongfu Spring needs to seek new competitive advantages.

The new purified water of Nongfu Spring is packaged in green, with a capacity of 550ml. It is claimed to be taken from the top ten water sources such as Qiandao Lake, Danjiangkou and Emei Mountain in Sichuan. Although the propaganda map of this product is circulated on the Internet, it has not been put on the e-commerce platform yet, and it has not been seen in offline stores. A number of water station employees said that they have not received this new product yet and will inform customers in time when it arrives.

According to official website of Nongfu Spring, its water product line includes eight types, including drinking natural water, Changbai Mountain natural snow mountain mineral water, drinking natural water suitable for infants, lithium-containing natural mineral water, drinking natural mountain spring for tea making, sports covered natural mineral water, glass bottled natural mineral water and natural mineral water (Zodiac bottle). The introduction of purified water this time is the return of Nongfu Spring after 24 years since it first introduced packaged drinking water in 1997. Before 1999, Nongfu Spring was still producing pure water, but in 2000, its founder Zhong Shanshan publicly criticized that pure water did not contain minerals, which was not good for health, and then announced that it would stop producing pure water and turn to natural water. This decision has prompted the domestic bottled water market to add natural drinking water categories.

In response to returning to the pure water market, Nongfu Spring said that natural water production will not change, and pure water is also taken from natural water sources, but the filtration methods are different. However, Zhan Junhao, a strategic positioning expert, believes that one of the reasons for the weak growth of drinking water business or the re-introduction of pure water in Nongfu Spring. With the improvement of consumers’ requirements for drinking water quality, the pure water market still has growth potential. Nongfu Spring’s move is intended to seize more market share and boost overall performance.