Friday is often viewed as the wind-down day of the week, but there may be a little more spring in consumers’ steps today as Americans celebrate National Coffee Day.
And despite the rampant promotions across java joints around the country to celebrate, many U.S. consumers continue to get their daily caffeine fixes before they head outside to face each new day.
And in looking at the data, it’s clear that Americans love their cup of Joe. Over the past five years, coffee buying across the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) landscape has increased almost $1 billion. Much of that increase, however, came between 2014 and 2015.
Compared to the slight decline in dry coffee sales (-0.8% in dollar sales) over the past year, liquid coffee sales continue to rise. We didn’t see double-digit growth between 2016 and 2017 like we had in the previous three years, but few brands would balk at dollar sales growth of almost 9%.
But when it comes to opportunity in the caffeine realm, liquid tea is leaving dry and liquid coffee in the dust.
In fact, the liquid tea category has grown from just under $404 million in mid-2013 to nearly a $708 million category this year. It’s counterpart, the refrigerated liquid tea category, has seen dollar growth of almost 5% and sales of nearly $1.2 billion.
But since it’s nearly October, we would be remiss if we didn’t delve into the world of pumpkin-flavored coffee in addition to the general roast arena. And with many things pumpkin, Americans are steadily increasing their consumption of dry and liquid coffee options inspired by the orange gourd.
And much like trends in the traditional coffee realm, sales of pumpkin-flavored liquid coffees are very strong, growing from just under $400,000 in mid-2013 to more than $13 million in the year ended July 29, 2017.
Dry coffee inspired by the fall squash, however, still dwarf the liquid varieties, generating $36.6 million in sales for the most recent year.
