Jeju Samdasoo's mineral water / Korea Times file

By Kim Jae-heun

Jeju Samdasoo, Korea's leading bottled water brand, has widened its lead with rivals since July last year when stricter environment regulations required companies to remove plastic labels from the bottles, according to market research firm Nielson Korea, Friday.

Jeju Samdasoo is the country's bestselling mineral water brand that takes up an overwhelming market share of over 42 percent.

In the first quarter of 2021, the brand's share reached 42.2 percent, which fell down by 0.1 percent points to 42.1 percent in the second and third quarters, but rebounded to 44.4 percent in the fourth quarter after it implemented the eco-friendly practice. In the first quarter of this year, Jeju Samdasoo's market share showed 44.2 percent, according to the research firm.

"Some predicted that removing the plastic label with a brand's name may work to the advantage of lesser-known firms, but the result turned out opposite. In the end, consumers chose a brand with a higher profile," a Jeju Samdasoo official said.

The No.2 mineral water brand Icis' market share decreased from 13.1 percent in the first quarter of 2021 to 12.5 percent in the first quarter of this year, failing to catch up to Jeju Samdasoo's lead. The third-largest brand Baeksansoo's market share also dwindled from 7.9 percent to 7.4 percent in the same period.

Meanwhile, market shares of less-popular private-brands' mineral water rose year-on-year by 0.8 percent points to show 19.2 percent in the first quarter of 2022.

Consumers have shown a tendency to stick with the same brand of water that they have been drinking or choose products that are cheap in the first place.

However, as the domestic bottled water market grows, the sales of the second- and third-largest companies are also increasing. The market size only reached 400 million won ($307.5 million) in 2010, but it grew to 1.2 trillion won last year and is expected to enlarge to 2.3 trillion won in 2023.