Volvic Splash slump hits Danone

Danone’s children’s sub-sector brand, Volvic Splash, has lost more than 25% of the take-home market in the UK, according to Nielsen figures seen by Marketing Week.

Sales of the brand fell from £6.49m in the 62 weeks to March 2006 to £5.5m in the 62 weeks ending May 2007.

Volvic Splash’s market share across impulse and grocery has fallen from 41.5% to 14.5%, as product launches in the sector hit sales.

The fall in sales comes despite the children’s mineral water category growing from £15.65m to £37.89m in the same period, according to the data for the children’s water category. Danone declined to comment.

Highland Spring, meanwhile, has also seen its market share fall from 16.9% to 9%, while Buxton mineral water has slipped from 23.4% to 15.1%.

The bulk of its share has been taken by Britvic’s Robinson’s Fruit Shoot H20, which has nearly 45% of the market.

Britvic says the key to the success of Fruit Shoot H20, which was backed by a £2.4m marketing spend last year, can be partially attributed to customer recognition of the Robinson’s brand.

Danone has invested heavily in Volvic and has expanded the range to include fruit variants. Volvic Splash – a natural mineral water which comes in 33cl sportscap bottles specially designed for children’s lunchboxes – features cartoon character SpongeBob Square Pants on-pack.