Starbucks wants you to buy more of its coffee at the grocery store. For this reason, it now offers a more fashionable product than the bottled frappucinos of years ago.
The company’s new line is called Cold & Crafted and is available from this Wednesday nationwide in the US in retail stores and supermarkets. It is also launched with three flavors: Coffee Sweetened Black (sweetened black coffee), Coffee with a Splash of Milk & Vanilla (coffee is a touch of milk and vanilla) and Coffee with a Splash of Milk & Mocha (coffee is a touch of milk and mocha). Each bottle, which costs less than $ 3, has 50 to 90 calories and 10 to 15 grams of sugar.
Cold & Crafted was designed with one central idea in mind: Most households haven’t tried Starbucks ready-to-drink coffee, the company found.
“When we look at … the ratio of consumers who buy other beverages versus those who buy ready-to-drink coffee, it certainly leaves a lot to think about: What other needs are not being met within the category currently?” Said Rebekah Lyle, vice president of development for North American channels at Starbucks. The company found that some people may overlook bottled coffee because they think the available options have too much sugar or calories.
Starbucks Cold & Crafted line was designed for people who have avoided ready-to-drink coffee.
Starbucks is the market leader for ready-to-drink coffee, which includes canned and bottled beverages sold in stores. The sector has been growing in recent years. Especially as more people drink coffee at home because of the pandemic.
Starbucks stores are the company’s core business. However, the company has been in the ready-to-drink beverage industry for decades with its partner PepsiCo. Last year, Starbucks’ sales of ready-made coffee products, which were part of the association, grew 14%.
But the landscape has become more competitive.
Chobani launched a line of refrigerated ready-to-drink coffees in January. Dunkin ‘sells its iced latte. Smaller brands loved by customers like La Colombe have their own offerings. And others compete for customers with their own spin on ready-to-drink coffee. For example, Kitu Super Coffee is optimized for a ketogenic diet and Java Monster is a coffee / energy drink mix.
Starbucks still has most of the market for ready-to-drink coffee, but its grip may be starting to wane. According to Euromonitor International, Starbucks had 61% of this market in 2020, up from 63% in 2019.
As competition continues to increase, Starbucks is confident that your expertise will continue to be the hallmark.
“One of the things that puts Starbucks in a really unique position against our competition is that we have our coffee shops so we can get information,” Lyle said. “So by looking at what works inside our stores, how do we bring that innovation to life the right way in the ready-to-drink segment?”
The company launched a retail ready-to-drink nitro cold coffee last year following the success of the drink in stores, Lyle explained. On Wednesday, Starbucks also expanded its canned nitro cold brew line to include a sweet dark cocoa creamer option. It also released a ready-to-drink version of its ice cream vanilla cream cold beer.