Competitive strategies of Italian bottled water industry: evidence from a hedonic analysis

Bottled water has become a global business and Italy is one of the most important producer and consumer countries. However, the Italian bottled water market seems to have reached the maturity stage of its lifecycle. Because the competitive pressure is strongly increased, bottled water producers need to revise their marketing strategies. This study aims to analyze the emerging market trends and policy concerns. We built a hedonic price model to evaluate whether, and to what extent, the price of bottled water depends upon its extrinsic (brand, packaging, origin), and intrinsic characteristics (mineral composition). Data were collected via direct observation of the shelves in some modern retail stores. Results show that bottled water is highly differentiated and its retail price is mainly affected by extrinsic characteristics. Conversely, intrinsic characteristics affect the price of bottled water moderately. On the basis of these results, some insights are provided for both practitioners and policy makers.