Polar loses No. 2 seltzer spot to Pepsi, faces new challenge from Coke

Photo | Grant Welker Polar Beverages' headquarters on Southbridge Street in Worcester. The company has joined a nationwide movement aimed at reducing food waste and promoting recycling.

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By Grant Welker

Polar Beverages has become a major player in the ballooning seltzer market as an underdog: a Worcester manufacturer family owned since its start in the 1880s.

While Polar has ridden the wave of seltzer's soaring popularity, it's now facing a harder battle than ever against the carbonated beverage industry's giants.

Coca-Cola is launching its own seltzer line, called Aha, which will hit store shelves in March with flavors sounding familiar to any Polar fan: citrus and green tea, apple and ginger, and blueberry and pomegranate. Unlike Polar and other seltzers, though, these will come with 30 milligrams of caffeine in each can, almost as much as in a regular can of Coke.

Aha, which Coke announced in November, is the first new product line for the Atlanta beverage behemoth since it launched Gold Peak Tea in 2006. Aha replaces Coke's Dasani Sparkling line, which hadn't caught on in a significant way in the seltzer market.

What is catching on quickly is Pepsi's Bubly, which has now surpassed Polar for second most popular flavored seltzer brand. Bubly was reported as having 8.5% market share compared to Polar's 7.7%, according to a Wells Fargo analysis of Nielsen data as reported by The Wall Street Journal.

LaCroix, from National Beverage in Florida, is still the runaway leader at 18% market share. Swiss conglomerate Nestle has 11.3% market share when its various brands, including Poland Spring and Perrier, are combined.

Coke is distant behind Polar today, with its Dasani and Topo Chico brands combining for 2.6% market share. Spindrift, which is based in Newton, has 1.2%.

Each of these brands are fighting over a market growing exponentially. Sparking water consumption roughly tripled in the five years ending in 2018, according to Beverage Marketing Corp. data.