Bottled water shipments accounted for 43.5 percent of total nonalcoholic beverage shipments in 2016, the report also said.

“The expansion of the bottled water market is largely due to the increase in single-person households, who tend to shop often at convenience stores,” said Park Jae-il, a researcher at Taurus Investment and Securities.

“Beverage sales at convenience stores accounted for 40.3 percent, while sales at discount stores accounted for 14 percent,” added Park Jin-sol from the research company.

The market size of bottled water is forecast to increase further to 1 trillion won by 2020, as the proportion of single-person households is expected to continue its upward trend and rise to 30 percent by 2020.

The increasing use of online and mobile shopping platforms also contributed to the rise in sales of bottled water, the report said.

During the first five months of this year, the sales of bottled water on 11st Street, SK Planet’s online shopping website, recorded 27 percent growth on-year, according to the company.

“The sales of bottled water on 11th Street this year is expected to mark a record high,” a SK Planet spokesperson said.

Out of some 70 bottled water brands in the domestic market, Samdasoo was the most popular brand, with a 41.5 percent share of total bottled water sales last year. 

By Shim Woo-hyun (ws@heraldcorp.com)