Can do attitude: NZ’s Parkers Beverage Company eyes Singapore expansion with packaged water
Currently, its still and sparkling canned water are only available on online platform RedMart in Singapore, retailing at SGD27 (USD19) for 24 cans.
Doug Speedy, managing director of Parkers Beverage Company told FoodNavigator-Asia the company chose to launch in Singapore because its population was environmentally conscious which helped in its sustainability stance.
The initial response for its canned water products were positive, with 30,000 units sold. Now it is planning to expand its sales channels into convenience stores.
“We feel the best channel will be small retail and convenience shops like 7-Eleven, where people patronage these stores everyday and can buy a small snack with a drink. If they buy a can, they know they can easily recycle in the bins around town,” Speedy said.
“Singapore has excellent recycling rates, so it is a true closed loop product.”
In New Zealand, its canned water products are sold in supermarkets, food service as well as at events. IT also distributes a range of beverages from juices, coffee to wine in its home market.
Sustainable pioneers
Parkers was the first company in New Zealand to switch from plastic bottles to recyclable cans for its still water in 2018.
According to Speedy, aluminium is a more sustainable material than plastic because it can be recycled and made into another can within 60 days.
“Plastic is bad, it is made from oil and most plastic is single use and ends up in the landfill,” he added.
According to Recycle.Co.NZ, approximately 252,000 tonnes of plastic waste is sent to New Zealand landfills annually.
The packaging for its 330mL canned water is made from recycled cans sourced in New Zealand. The canned water manufacturing facility is located in Hastings.
Speedy told us its still water comes from a pure artesian water source in New Zealand. Artesian water refers to water courses that flows and is naturally filtered underground. The water has a total dissolved solids (TDS) of 86ppm, which the company claimed was one of the lowest among packaged water in the world. TDS is used to measure a water’s natural purity, most packaged water tend to contain TDS of 1000ppm and above.
Further directions
Speedy told us the company had plans to bring in its premium not-from-concentrate apple juice into Singapore, once it finds a suitable retail partner in Singapore.
Besides New Zealand and Singapore, Parkers entered Australia last year, selling mainly through online and food service.
The company forecast sales to grow over 100% this year. Asked if the firm’s operations were affected when New Zealand was experiencing an alert level four during the pandemic, Speedy said: “We could operate as we were deemed an essential service and we were delivering water to supermarkets.”
