---
title: "Nongfu Spring's Listing, Tsingtao-Nestle Alliance: What Pitfalls Should Bottled Water Companies Avoid to Succeed?"
description: "The recent listing of bottled water giant Nongfu Spring has caused a stir in the industry, with many media outlets calling it not 'Nature's Porter' but 'Nature's Money Printer,' bringing the bottled water business back into focus and even attracting capital seeking investment opportunities. With over a decade of experience in bottled water sales, I'd like to share some pitfalls we've encountered from a marketing perspective."
author: "高级研究员 海游"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2020-08-30"
language: "en"
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# Nongfu Spring's Listing, Tsingtao-Nestle Alliance: What Pitfalls Should Bottled Water Companies Avoid to Succeed?

> The recent listing of bottled water giant Nongfu Spring has caused a stir in the industry, with many media outlets calling it not 'Nature's Porter' but 'Nature's Money Printer,' bringing the bottled water business back into focus and even attracting capital seeking investment opportunities. With over a decade of experience in bottled water sales, I'd like to share some pitfalls we've encountered from a marketing perspective.

The recent listing of bottled water giant Nongfu Spring has caused a stir in the industry, with many media outlets calling it not "Nature's Porter" but "Nature's Money Printer," bringing the bottled water business back into focus and even attracting capital seeking investment opportunities.
With over a decade of experience in bottled water sales, I'd like to share some pitfalls we've encountered from a marketing perspective.

**-01-**
**Without Sufficient Capital and Patience**
**Don't Rush to Expand Nationwide**

**1. On Capital**
We increasingly hear about bankruptcies due to broken capital chains. **Capital is a hard constraint for companies. You should match your ambitions to your resources. While it's tempting to press advantages, without a solid financial foundation, the further you go, the faster you die.**

Let me give you a memorable example: In 2014, a water company owner in a prefecture-level city invested in a water plant. The water tasted particularly sweet and was loved by local consumers. Its short sales radius meant distributors could pick up goods with small trucks, saving transport costs and giving it a price advantage. Within three years, annual sales exceeded 60 million yuan.

It crushed all bottled water brands in two or three neighboring cities. This easy success fueled the owner's ambition, and despite a sluggish market, he decided to expand province-wide to become a regional brand. He recruited staff and attacked the provincial capital market.

At that point, market, sales, and personnel costs skyrocketed. Without economies of scale, he was cannon fodder. After a bloody fight with Nongfu Spring and C'estbon, excluding display fees, channel promotions alone drove the price of a 24-bottle pack down to 17-18 yuan. If they ran two or three rounds during peak season, would you follow or not?

Following meant slow death; not following meant immediate death. In the end, the owner lost millions and retreated.

For a company, the accumulation of initial capital is the "1" in going from 0 to 1. Entrepreneurs must solidify their "1" and calmly assess its risk resistance.

Especially in bottled water, which is already a red ocean. Latecomers like Yili and Xiaomi are cross-industry giants. How many times can you withstand their capital onslaught? If your initial capital is insufficient, focus on local markets and build strength gradually—that's the wise strategy.

A word of caution: don't expect to solve initial capital problems through financing. **First, financing capital only adds icing on the cake, not fuel in the snow; it's hard to get. Second, capital is inherently a 'vampire'; without capital strength, you can't control it.**

**2. On Patience**
Nongfu Spring's success wasn't overnight. They started in 1996 and have been at it for nearly 24 years. Water companies need patience; a simple bottle of water is a huge test of an entrepreneur's endurance.

**The hardest part of selling colorless, tasteless drinking water is instilling consumer awareness, while the easiest is being forgotten, because the differentiation in water itself is minimal.**

Take Evergrande Spring as an example: they had no shortage of money but lacked patience. After two years of vigorous effort, they had to retreat and start over.

I believe the most profound market lesson Evergrande Spring bought with billions is: **Rules are irreversible; bottled water requires patience and a slow, steady approach.**

**-02-**
**Stop Hype About Water Sources; Don't Fool Consumers**

**1. Stop Hype About Water Sources**
Most major domestic mid-to-high-end water brands, such as C'estbon (Baisuishan), Kunlun Mountain, 5100, Aershan, and Evergrande Spring, have essentially claimed a high-quality water source and immediately promoted its advantages, stories, and mineral content.

This origin-centric marketing model did work to some extent in the early years, helping some brands quickly build a loyal consumer base.

But times have changed. Any water company, no matter how powerful, cannot monopolize all water resources at a claimed source. If other manufacturers also produce drinking water from the same source, your key selling point is immediately diluted. Why should consumers pay a premium for your product when they have multiple choices?

Moreover, **the era of "one trick works everywhere" is over. Simply promoting the water source no longer plays a core role in building a water brand. Bottled water brands need a story and a unique soul.**

For example, the imported high-end brand Evian has many legendary stories about its source, but its core brand promotion isn't about the source—it's about its brand proposition: "Live Young." Domestic brand C'estbon (Baisuishan) no longer promotes its water source; all its ads together tell a poignant love story.

**2. Don't Fool Consumers**
**In a red ocean full of blood, strengthening functional claims and benefits is a good way to carve out a path.**

While drinking water isn't the same as functional beverages, water from different sources contains different minerals and trace elements, suitable for different consumer types.

That's true, but functions must be factual and scientifically based, not based on "hype." Again, take Nongfu Spring: a few years ago, they promoted a new water source concept—Moyaquan—with a new USP of low-sodium, light mineral water.

They publicly claimed that Moyaquan Spring No. 2 had balanced mineral content and moderate mineral salts, especially suitable for infant drinking water, and launched infant water with great fanfare.

That had scientific backing. But some water companies go too far, claiming their water can "supplement oxygen," "beautify and slim," or "prolong life."

**Using such exaggerated claims to fool consumers leads to only one outcome: being abandoned by consumers, rectified by the state, and losing market share.**

**-03-**
**Weak Product Strength and Untargeted Promotion**

**1. Many Bottled Waters Lack Product Strength**
Product strength in bottled water comes from four points:

**First, packaging design can be decisive.** If the packaging doesn't convey a premium feel, it's filtered out at first glance. Looking at domestic brands, except for C'estbon (Baisuishan), which has noteworthy packaging, most others lack distinctive design and don't give a high-end impression.

**Second, taste.** Water is colorless and tasteless; the only physiological stimulus is taste. Preserving the taste of the source water is crucial for building a brand. Nongfu Spring became famous with "Nongfu Spring is a bit sweet!"

**Third, emphasize scarcity and functionality based on mineral content, ideally with medical evidence, to gain consumer acceptance faster.**

**Fourth, give the brand a soul.** Tell stories about water, or delve into traditional Chinese drinking culture to give the product unique cultural connotations. For example, Jinmailang's boiled water (Liangbaikai) follows the traditional habit of drinking boiled water, carving a new niche and creating a new bottled water category.

Looking at the market, many water companies cleverly avoid these four points, leaving their products "naked." Truly, "one incompetent general leads to the exhaustion of three armies."

**2. Bottled Water Promotion Needs Precise Positioning and Targeting**
To persuade consumers to buy your water, you need deeper, closer communication, and a USP. Let me share a classic USP case: Safeguard dominating the soap market.

In March 1992, Safeguard entered China, while Lux, which had been there since 1986, had firmly held the soap market. Yet Safeguard, the newcomer, managed to pull Lux off its throne within a few years.

According to 2001 data, Safeguard held a 41.95% market share, 14 points higher than Lux, which was second.

In Safeguard's marketing, "germ removal" was the core concept, with the appeal "effectively removes germs to protect the whole family." Ads showed scenes like playing football, squeezing onto buses, and carrying gas tanks to illustrate that life exposes you to many germs, using magnified images of germs to "shock you." They also used "certified by the Chinese Medical Association" to enhance trust.

So **bottled water promotion should be focused and precisely positioned. First, the selling point should be unique, something competitors don't have or haven't claimed. Second, it should drive sales—strong enough to attract millions of consumers.**

**Finally, it should include a specific product benefit—each ad should make a claim and give consumers a clear benefit promise.**

For example: A friend's water plant produces Ziyang selenium-rich mineral water called "Xipin Tiancheng." They obtained a conclusion from a military medical university's water test: Ziyang selenium-rich mineral water can inhibit fatty degeneration of liver cells, promote normal cell growth, and have some inhibitory effect on liver tumor cells. From now on, if they focus on linking water to liver cells and precisely target consumers, success is just a matter of time.

As the saying goes: **As long as the direction is right, don't fear the distance.**

**In Conclusion:**
First, these views are solely my own. Second, I've noticed an interesting phenomenon: bottled water is indeed a profitable business, but most bottled water companies are losing money, and after losses, they can't clearly identify where the losses are.

The purpose of this article is to remind those who want to enter or are already in the bottled water business: **These pitfalls have been stepped on by many companies; you don't need to test them yourself. I also hope China can produce more excellent water companies like Nongfu Spring and C'estbon (Baisuishan) to enrich the industry's categories and price bands, meet diverse market demands, and make the bottled water market bigger and stronger.**

**If you'd like to communicate with the author**
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Contact: zhaobo258@gmail.com · +86 158 5481 7671