Nestle Launches Ladies Only Premium Line Of Bottled Water

[Initech]

DRINKING tap water is essentially free, but even during the economic downturn, consumers have sprung for bottled water, with sales in the United States increasing 6.7 percent in 2012, to $11.8 billion, according to the International Bottled Water Association. Americans on average drank 30.8 gallons of bottled water, 5.3 percent more than in 2011.
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Now Nestlé Waters North America, the top producer with about a third of the domestic bottled water market, hopes to make a splash with a new brand it is introducing nationally, Resource.

Larry Cooper, group marketing manager for Resource, said the brand, which was introduced in Whole Foods in 2009, then Southern California in 2012 before its national rollout early this month, is intended for the most discriminating water drinker.

“We look at bottled water as being at a more value, mainstream or premium level,” Mr. Cooper said. “And we have incredibly good coverage in those first two tiers, but we haven’t in all these years had a premium entry to compete with the Smartwater, Fijis and Evians of the world,” he continued, referring to the Glacéau, Fiji Water Company and Danone Waters of North America brands.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/10/business/media/nestle-adds-a-premium-brand-in-still-water-category.html?_r=1&