Coffee Roaster Marketing Analysis

The coffee industry provides a unique landscape that is interesting to observe. The fact that there are only a few countries that produce the bean on a massive scale creates a sophisticated supply chain. While producers are mainly from tropical countries, the main consumers are European countries and the United States. This also creates an interesting marketing challenge where European coffee roasters should rely on the produce of other countries. This article will examine a coffee roaster marketing analysis by briefly analyzing the product, the market segment, the target market, and the value proposition.

Coffee Roaster Marketing Analysis

The Product

The company is a coffee roaster based in Europe. The company selects and purchases the best quality green coffee from importers and farmers, mainly the Arabica variety. Then it roasts the coffee to produce a unique coffee profile. The company provides single-origin coffee and blend coffee that suits the most for each European country since each country has its own taste preference (Pelupessy, 2007). Normally, the company’s flavor-rich arabica coffee will be sold to coffee shops or retailers, but now, the company is going to expand its customer base to include end consumers or coffee drinkers.

Target Market

Quain (2019) distinguishes the target market for coffee consumers into four categories: drip coffee drinkers, coffee shop lovers, specialty coffee drinkers, and whole bean buyers. The latter category is the current potential consumer market for the company because they usually buy whole-bean coffee to be brewed at home. They owned personal coffee grinders and brewing tools, so they only look for special coffee flavors. Usually, they buy their whole-bean coffee from coffee shops or retailers, but now we can target them directly to buy whole-bean coffee from our channels.

The company can also encourage the first three categories to brew their coffee at home using our whole-bean coffee. Nowadays, many manual coffee brewing tools are available at an affordable price for almost everyone. Every coffee lover can now enjoy brewing their own coffee at home; some coffee lovers even brew their own coffee while traveling. The company can make a campaign to encourage these kinds of personal brewing coffee experiences while also promoting our brand.

These coffee connoisseurs who enjoy brewing coffee by themselves will be the potential consumer target. They are mainly middle to upper-class young adults in urban cities. Almost 95% of people aged 18 to 39 years drink coffee at least a cup every day (Quain, 2019). In a well-established market, such as Sweden, the average for a coffee drinker is 3.5 cups a day (Pelupessy, 2007). This is a very big market. They heavily spend their time on the internet, so the company can target them with its online channels. The online channels should be able to give a sense of closeness for the customers to engage directly with the brand.

To be more specific, the company can target younger middle-class coffee lovers, which many of them are students and workers. The coffee price must be set to be affordable to students to stimulate them to become avid coffee drinkers. The online presence can provide content about the personal brewing coffee experience. The company can also provide cheap coffee brewing tools, such as drip bags or V60, along with the main products of specialty coffee to foster new specialty coffee lovers.

Competitor’s Target Market

Usually, coffee roasters’ main target market is coffee shops and retailers that can make regular coffee purchases in high volume. This market is where the current main competition happens for roasters. Some roasters can target the upper end of the consumer market, which can afford higher quality coffee at a higher price, but the niche is too small. The company’s main competitor will be the roasters who target the same specific consumer profile.

Traditionally, coffee roasters compete more in non-price instruments, such as blends, advertising, and bonus systems to maintain customer retention (Pelupessy, 2007) as they trade with other commercial entities, such as retailers or coffee shops. However, in the consumer market, this may not be the case as people will always look for the trade-off between the quality of the coffee and their purchasing power. By delivering the coffee directly to end consumers, the company can cut a large portion of supply chain costs and create margins that usually belong to the retailers.

Most likely, changing the target audience from commercial to end-user will alter the overall marketing plan. It can force the company to design completely new channels and new measures. I advise the business to considerably expand its online presence in order to communicate this new marketing strategy. I also advise the business to establish a solid distribution channel to handle the delivery, exchange, and sales processes. Given that dairy and beverage products are included in 93 percent of online grocery orders and that online sales have climbed by 14.3 percent over the past year, the online platform may present considerable potential for the manufacturers (Cote, 2016).

Coffee Roaster Marketing Analysis: Value Proposition

The company’s value proposition must be strong enough to put its brand in the consumer market. The main proposition is specialty arabica coffee with a flavor profile unique to the brand. This main value must be supported by a minimum hassle delivery process. There must be a sense of closeness between the brand and the consumers so that the consumers must think that the quality product can be obtained easily and the information about the product is easy to access, easy to read, and in accordance with the real quality of the product.

The company may use taglines that represent these values, such as “bringing a personal coffee experience to your door” or “We deliver the world’s best specialty coffee directly to your door”. The tagline should communicate the company’s value of special quality coffee, along with its closeness to coffee lovers. Nevertheless, a more comprehensive coffee roaster marketing analysis is necessary to acquire a better landscape of the market.

Cote, M. (2016, January 4). Why all dairy food and beverage brands should advertise and sell online. Dairy Foods. https://www.dairyfoods.com/articles/91534-why-all-dairy-food-and-beverage-brands-should-advertise-and-sell-online

Pelupessy, W. (2007). The world behind the world coffee market. Études Rurales, 180, 187–212. https://doi.org/10.4000/etudesrurales.8564

Quain, S. (2019, January 28). What Is the Target Market for Coffee? Small Business - Chron.Com. https://smallbusiness.chron.com/target-market-coffee-71600.html