UK Coffee Industry Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

UK Coffee Industry - Case Study Example Dominance of instant coffee is attributed to a combination of aggressive marketing and branding campaigns by brand manufacturers, as well as the price consciousness and brand loyalty characteristic of coffee drinkers. However, instant coffee growth rates lag behind ground and roast, increasing only by 11.1% from 2003-2005, compared to 13.6% for the latter, which can be attributed to the development of new pod technologies and the decreasing prices of coffee machines, which allows consumers greater convenience in home brewing; and the prevalence of repertoire drinkers2, indicating an increase in consumers drinking both instant and ground coffee. The market is also highly segmented with distinct divisions in terms of age groups, geography, and consumer behaviour. Demographically, consumption increases with age as majority of heavy coffee drinkers in both sectors found among the 35-64 groups, with 76% drinking instant coffee and about 43% drinking instant exclusively. With respect to ground coffee, consumption is concentrated in more affluent regions of the country, indicating price consciousness among drinkers. Only a few manufacturers do... Base: adults aged 15+ All users % Heavy users % Medium users % Light users % Non-users % All 76.1 37.1 25.1 13.2 23.9 Men 75.6 38.0 24.4 12.6 24.4 Women 76.6 36.3 25.8 13.7 23.4 15-24 52.2 20.2 20.0 11.5 47.8 25-34 73.1 35.1 22.7 14.8 26.9 35-44 78.3 42.8 21.1 14.0 21.7 45-54 81.7 43.9 23.7 13.4 18.3 55-64 85.1 44.9 25.7 13.7 14.9 65+ 84.4 35.8 35.8 11.9 15.6 Taken from the TGI survey of around 25,000 adults (Source: Mintel 2006) table 3: Usage of fresh ground coffee, by demographic sub-group, 2005 Base: adults aged 15+ All users % Heavy users % Medium users % Light users % Non-users % All 36.4 8.2 11.2 16.1 63.6 Men 36.5 9.5 10.9 15.3 63.5 Women 36.3 7.0 11.6 16.9 63.7 15-24 23.8 3.6 7.6 11.1 76.2 25-34 34.5 7.2 10.8 16.0 65.5 35-44 40.0 8.9 12.4 18.0 60.0 45-54 42.7 10.1 13.1 19.2 57.3 55-64 41.5 10.6 13.0 17.4 58.5 65+ 35.6 8.8 10.5 15.1 64.4 Taken from the TGI survey of around 25,000 adults (Source: Mintel 2006) Only a few manufacturers dominate the coffee market. For instant coffee, the market is dominated by Nestl (56%) through its Nescaf Original Blend (33%) and Gold Blend (15%) - the two highest-selling brands - followed by Kraft (22%), and Own-label products (11%), while other manufacturers made up the remaining 11% in 2005. There are no dominant suppliers for ground and roast. However one company, Douwe Egberts, had the highest market share at 12%, followed by Cafdirect, Taylors, and Lavazza, with 8% market shares each. Own-label manufacturers for ground and roast coffee, however, possess 40% of the total market. table 4: Market share of instant coffee, by producer, by value, 2003 and 2005 2003 2005 (est) %