(1888PressRelease)
January 17, 2008 - Report Buyer, the online destination for business intelligence for major industry sectors, has now added a new report showing that Japan, home to the Ready To Drink (RTD) coffee concept and a driving force in product innovation, accounts for a massive 88% of the total, but sales there are starting to dip for the first time.
“2007 RTD Coffee” reports that recent strategic partnerships and marketing initiatives in North America and West Europe have become the main sources of momentum. They note that while Japan’s maturing market is forecast to decline by 1% a year up to 2011, West Europe is expected to see compound annual growth of 9% and 6% in North America.
The report finds a number of multinationals overcoming obstacles that once threatened to make the drink appear unhealthy, opening up consumption opportunities and broadening the target market by turning the original RTD concept on its head.
Authors of the report note that RTD coffee companies have moved on from merely tweaking the coffee-sugar-milk ratio to appeal to different consumer tastes. They are now focusing on a whole new generation of consumers by balancing sometimes conflicting demands for products that are weight and health conscious, energy boosting, indulgent and perhaps also offer added functionality.
The study shows that, in a major twist, multinationals are forming strategic brand alliances to make positive plays on the natural properties of RTD coffee ingredients. Its naturally occurring caffeine content could see it attract a share of the growing appetite for energy drinks. Any dairy content can appeal in its own right or be enriched to enhance a product’s natural nutritional status. Even sugar, when blended with a premium coffee bean, may transform a fattening drink into an indulgent treat, sometimes as an alternative to a dessert.
It further shows that ingenuity needs to be accompanied by distribution strength. While The Coca-Cola Company leads in Japan with innovative products such as the Georgia brand’s GABA coffee, it has struggled to break the US stranglehold of the PepsiCo/Starbucks Coffee Company partnership. The authors say many eyes are now on China as the alliance rolls out Starbucks Frappuccino across the country, but others await developments from fresh links between the Coca-Cola system and illycaffé.
The combined markets of Japan, North America and West Europe for ready to drink coffee amounted to 3,163 million litres in 2006. Authors of the report predicts that North America’s share of the combined RTD market will rise from 8% to 11% by 2011, with West Europe’s share up from 3% to 5%. Certain markets in West Europe, such as Austria and Norway, are set to see consumption per person rates that outstrip the United States.
“2007 RTD Coffee” is available from Report Buyer. (
http://www.reportbuyer.com/go/ZEN00002)
Report Buyer product ID: ZEN00002
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