Ready-to-Drink Tea Market Braces for a Summertime Surge
Carbonated soft drink sales continue to decline, but the ready-to-drink tea market is full steam ahead. The market for teas (of which ready-to-drink varieties account for 75%) was valued at $7.4 billion at retail in 2007 and is expected to reach almost $15 billion by 2012, according to research firm Packaged Facts.
“Tea is one of the most underdeveloped beverages in the U.S.,” writes Packaged Facts Publisher Tatjana Meerman in a recent report. “The potential is enormous, as tea barely compares in market size to beverage categories such as carbonated soft drinks, coffee and water.”
Summer 2008 will see an influx of tea marketing, reports Advertising Age, with Coca-Cola doubling its media spending. “We are doing significantly more this year with Nestea and Gold Peak,” said Penny McIntyre, Senior VP-General Manager of coffee and tea at Coca-Cola North America. “In addition to sampling, we are spending well over double in media vs. (the) recent past.”
Christiane Paul, Director of Marketing for the Pepsi-Lipton partnership, sees more consumers being converted to tea. “It’s been growing at a healthy clip over the last few years, and we think that there’s actually even more upside to be had,” she said. “You talk about carbonated soft drinks and the like; they’re pretty ubiquitous. But when you look at tea globally, it’s actually the second-most-consumed beverage in the world.”
