While the residential water cooler market in many countries is already large and growing, it has not really taken hold in the UK as yet, but is slowly growing, together with hot water boilers and under-counter machines.

The water cooler sector is becoming more and more professional, thanks to the high professional standards maintained by the British Water Cooler Association (BWCA), of which many water cooler companies are a member.

The water cooler market in the UK did see a 5% growth, and was worth £129 million in 2016, which is a £6 million growth over the previous year. Volume sales of bottled water showed a 3% rise to 305 million litres.

“Although this is a relatively mature market, the sector is still seeing growth in volume and value for both POU (mains-fed) coolers and bottled water coolers,” said Karen Wells, managing consultant at Zenith Global at the BWCA conference earlier this year.

The market split between bottled water coolers and mains or POU water coolers has been relatively stable since 2012, and remains so; bottled water coolers account for 53% of the market and POU coolers account for the remaining 47%.

According to Wells, the growth in sales of bottled water and increased rentals of bottled water units was accredited to in particular growth in the construction sector: “New-build developments and infrastructure sites can be heavily dependent on bottled water coolers. When this sector is in growth, it creates a positive effect for the cooler industry.”

Part of the interest in either purchasing or renting water coolers can also be attributed to the fact that the general consumer interest in health and wellness has grown. The forthcoming sugar tax on soft drinks also serves to push people to rather drink water than carbonated drinks to hydrate.

The future growth of the water cooler industry in the UK seems guaranteed as long as the sector maintains high standards and reasonable pricing.