IBARAKI, Aug. 21 – The National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations (ZEN-NOH) is installing carbonated water vending machines that can refill bottles at low prices at its farmers’ markets to increase the number of regular repeat customers. One of the farmer’s markets run by JA ZEN-NOH Ibaraki saw a sales increase of more than three times for carbonated water in July, compared to May, the month the machine was installed. The store, Pocket Farm Dokidoki Ibaraki Town, gave away water bottles for free and promoted the carbonated water from its vending machines at a cooking class for parents and children, aiming to encourage the purchase of water.
According to a private research firm, Fuji Keizai Group, the market size for sugar-free carbonated beverages in 2024 reached 130.4 billion yen, a 3.3-times increase from 2015. Carbonated water is not only used as a mixer in cocktails and other drinks, but also for drinking or cooking. Anticipating its future growth, ZEN-NOH’s support office for farmers’ markets has suggested that the stores install vending machines, with four already having done so nationwide. The support office director, Kenji Harima, sees high hopes for an increase in repeat customers at the farmers’ markets.
To purchase the water, insert a special 1-liter bottle into the vending machine and select your preferred carbonated water type from five options, ranging from pure carbonated water to soft, medium-hard, and hard carbonated water. Each type is sold at a different price, ranging from 50 to 100 yen per liter. Due to the reasonable pricing, sales at the store in Ibarakimachi jumped from approximately 35,000 yen in May to approximately 120,000 yen in July.
The store has occasionally been giving its customers water bottles designed exclusively for the machine, which usually cost 100 yen, for free to promote water sales. In addition, this month’s food and agriculture education cooking class featured a menu cooked with carbonated water from the vending machine for the first time. ZEN-NOH hopes to publicize that carbonated water can improve the texture of food when used in cooking, thereby increasing the sales of agricultural and livestock products as well.
A shopper refilling carbonated water at the vending machine installed in a local farmers’ market (In Ibaraki Town, Ibaraki Prefecture)