Author: Xiaoshidai
In addition to traditional coffee beans, coffee giant Nestlé is also tapping into the potential of "treasure coffee cherries". On April 11, Nescafe officially launched the first coffee fruit tea product in the Chinese market - Guoran Light Coffee.
What is coffee and fruit tea? This is probably the most important question for everyone. According to Nescafe, the coffee that everyone usually drinks is made from coffee beans and is taken from the seeds of coffee fruits, while the coffee peel is the shell and pulp of coffee, and coffee fruit tea is a drink made from coffee fruit peel.
With such a product to create a new category, Nescafe hopes to push the boundaries of traditional coffee and take its coffee story in China to the next level.
Alfonso Troisi, Senior Vice President, Coffee Business Unit, Greater China, Nestlé
What's more worth mentioning is that on the same day, Nescafe also officially announced a new brand image, integrating all sub-brands into the parent brand "Nescafe", writing a new chapter in the Chinese market with a unified image.
During the on-site communication with Xiaoshidai and others, Li Yichen, business director of Nestlé ready-to-drink coffee, also dismantled in detail the selling points of coffee fruit tea, the latest insights on China's coffee consumption trends, and Nescafe's localization innovation strategy.
Below, please see the message sent back from the scene.
"New species" landing
Let's take a look at the new product "Sure Light Coffee" first.
Nescafe told Snack Generation that, in fact, coffee peels have been consumed for nearly a thousand years since humans drank roasted coffee. For centuries, people will dry the peel of coffee and brew it for drinking, which has become a popular drink in some foreign cities, but it has never been commercialized, and large-scale R&D investment has not been introduced.
However, the research and development of coffee fruit tea is very rigorous. Nescafe said that the product development team has gone through more than 10 years of research, and through 3 years of origin visits and formula research and development, it has tasted and cupped hundreds of local coffee cherries peel raw materials. During the production process, all raw materials need to be screened layer by layer, and 8 exquisite processes and extraction processes are passed to finally create this new product.
The liquid after the coffee peel is extracted has a sweet fruit taste, not bitter or astringent, with a small amount of caffeine. It is worth mentioning that "Sure Light Coffee" has launched two flavors this time, including refreshing original flavor and light white tea flavor. In addition, the new product also emphasizes the selling points of "0 sugar and 0 fat", "a small amount of caffeine to drive away small fatigue", and "both health and environmental protection".
At present, the suggested retail price of each bottle is around 6 yuan to 6.5 yuan. Li Yichen, business director of Nestle ready-to-drink coffee, said that it will use all the existing channels of ready-to-drink coffee to promote the listing of Guoran light coffee online and offline. "At present, we are also the most widely distributed RTD coffee brand in the market, and we believe that the existing channels can help the distribution and reach of the new products to the greatest extent in the stage of the launch of the new products. Li Yichen said.
Li Yichen, Business Director of Nestlé Ready-to-Drink Coffee
The reason why Nescafe launched coffee fruit tea has this consideration.
On the one hand, its launch is in response to the booming demand for coffee from Chinese consumers. According to Nielsen data, China's coffee market is entering a stage of rapid development. The coffee industry has a growth rate of 9% compared to 2022, and the Chinese market size will reach 90 billion yuan in 2023.
On the other hand, Li Yichen said that the innovation of Chinese coffee is no longer limited to the innovation of the coffee category itself, and there can be more cross-border attempts and more attempts with different needs.
"For example, the trend of combining tea and coffee, and in the coffee industry, we are doing different roasting degrees, different SOEs, that is, the choice of coffee beans from a single origin, and at the same time, consumers' demand for health and functional attributes is becoming more and more intense. Li Yichen said.
Tell a new story about coffee
Since last year, there have been new changes in the beverage track, and one of the most obvious trends is that ready-to-drink tea has become the most popular category.
According to the latest report released by NielsenIQ, in 2023, ready-to-drink tea will surpass carbonated beverages to occupy the first market share and become the category with the largest sales volume in the beverage industry, among which the volume of sugar-free tea has doubled (110%), which is higher than the overall growth rate of the beverage industry (6%) and the growth rate of the ready-to-drink tea category in which it is located (19%).
Under such a trend, Nescafe also sees potential market opportunities.
Li Yichen believes that China's ready-to-drink tea market is growing very fast, and the retail sales of sugar-free tea drinks are also growing rapidly, which shows that there is huge consumer demand.
"Nescafe fruit tea will be closer to the tea beverage category in terms of taste and vision, and we also hope to make this category bigger and better together by introducing 'new species' in the industry through the explosion of tea beverages. Li Yichen said.
From the perspective of consumer groups, the target consumer groups of tea and coffee overlap. For example, both groups have a need for refreshing and healthy drinks.
"The Chinese have been drinking tea for thousands of years, and they have a very deep understanding of tea. And sure enough, light coffee is a new species in the industry. It looks a bit similar to ready-to-drink tea, but the product is more about the integration of the needs of coffee drinkers and tea drinkers. Li Yichen said to Xiao Shidai.
It is not difficult to find that Nescafe also hopes to break through the original boundaries of coffee products and cover a wider consumer group through the cross-border new species "Guoran Light Coffee", so as to bring new increments to itself.
However, Alfonso Troisi, senior vice president of Nestlé's coffee business unit in Greater China, admitted last year that it would be challenging for consumers to build awareness during the promotion phase.
In order to better carry out market education, Li Yichen also revealed their strategy with Xiaoshidai.
"This new product is new to the entire industry, and the benefits are good for the entire coffee category and the coffee industry. Therefore, in the process of promotion, we also hope to unite the forces of the industry, rather than the power of a single brand or a single product of Nescafe. In the future, we also hope to further unite the entire industry to co-create the concept of coffee peel, including participating in some industry exhibitions and cooperating with other coffee brands and stores to promote. Li Yichen said.
Specific to the consumer-oriented marketing action, Li Yichen revealed, "In fact, the entire coffee industry has a lot of space that consumers can reach, so in this part, through the strength of the industry, in fact, it can reach some consumers; ”
Innovate around four major needs
In addition to creating coffee fruit teas, on April 11, Nescafe also launched a number of creative new products in the Chinese market, including Orange C Americano, Ice Latte, Citrus Oolong Latte, Super Espresso Liquid, Iced Coconut American and Oatmeal Latte. Among them, Citrus Oolong Latte, Iced Coconut Americano and Oatmeal Latte are all ready-to-drink coffee drinks.
Taking ready-to-drink coffee as an example, Nescafe's intensive promotion of new products is due to optimism about this category.
Li Yichen said that ready-to-drink coffee is one of the few categories in the beverage market that has achieved high growth in the past five years, and there is a lot of room for growth and sinking capacity. "Going back to Nescafe itself, Nescafe was one of the first brands to establish ready-to-drink coffee in China, so it still occupies a relatively dominant position. Li Yichen said.
Despite this, the degree of "involution" in the coffee market is also intensifying, and the same is true for the ready-to-drink coffee category. In May last year, Zhao Xuemei, director of communication and innovation at Nescafe China, told Xiaoshidai that due to the expanding consumer demand for coffee convenience, more and more beverage brands are also entering ready-to-drink coffee.
In other words, more crowded market conditions are forcing coffee companies and brands to accelerate innovation to produce more niche products and expand the boundaries of current categories.
Zhao Xuemei, Director of Communications & Innovation at Nescafe China
As for how to expand the boundaries and achieve effective innovation, Nescafe has also explored its own strategies, which mainly come from the insight into market trends and needs.
Li Yichen said that they have observed that in the past two or three years, the demand of Chinese consumers in the entire coffee category can be roughly divided into these four types.
"The first type is long-term refreshing, more functional needs, the second type is the exploration of flavor, whether it is a coffee store, or ready-to-drink products, the third type is the further experiential demand, such as a single origin of coffee beans, the choice of different roasting degrees, are consumers to further strengthen their own experience in the category, and there is health and preferential. Li Yichen said.
"The needs of different consumer groups, or the same type of people in different scenarios. Nescafe hopes to use our rich product line, not only ready-to-drink, but also the entire product line, to meet the diverse needs of consumers. Li Yichen said.
After the coffee and fruit tea, Li Yichen did not reveal more future innovation plans. She said, "In the future, Nescafe's innovation direction and layout in China will continue to explore more possibilities based on the needs of four different consumers for coffee categories." ”