They have a machine and they like to use it

Coffee’s retail sales develop in a strange fashion. Those rather narrow segments are able to expand which form part of a higher-level, premium form of coffee drinking: capsule and whole bean coffees. Gabriella Dobos, senior brand manager of Douwe Egberts Hungary Zrt. informed our magazine that making a cup of capsule coffee at home costs 3-4 times more, between HUF 70 and 120, than brewing a cup of ordinary roasted coffee. More and more Nespresso-compatible products appear in the market, for instance recently Tesco introduced its own capsules. Whole bean coffee sales’ dynamic development is well indicated by the number of coffee machines sold. Those below the age of 30 drink less coffee – especially at home – than the older generations, because they prefer energy drinks or having a cup in coffee house franchises. However, the growth of smaller segments is unable to make up for the contraction of the coffee market in general – volume sales kept falling in the first half of 2013. According to Andrea Princz, Nestlé Hungária Kft.’s brand manager in the instant coffee category only the mainstream real coffee segment is growing, mainly because private label products started a price war to win consumers. Anna Cholnoky, brand manager of Maspex Olympos Kft. (La Festa’s distributor) told us that last year none of the coffee specialty segments was able to expand in terms of volume, but in value the 3in1, 2in1 and cappuccino categories improved moderately. This year Douwe Egberts Hungary Zrt. revamps the packaging of practically all products. A new product, decaffeinated Omnia Evening has already appeared on store shelves. In the future a taste intensity scale will appear on the packaging of all ground-roasted Douwe Egberts coffees, helping consumers to choose the product that suits their taste the best. New Karaván products will debut in November, in soft-pack format. NESCAFÉ came out with two breakthrough products this year: in February they put NESCAFÉ Classic Crema on the market, 100-percent real coffee in powder form; the other new product is NESCAFÉ 3in1 enriched with brown sugar. Both products received strong marketing support and acquired significant market share. Maspex Olympos Kft. updated the packaging of the La Festa 3in1 product line at the end of last year. The new design is provocative and funny, grabbing young consumers’ attention at once. Maspex Olympos Kft. also cares about those who would like to cut down on their daily caffeine intake, but crave for the taste of a nice cup of coffee. Inka instant cereal coffee can be consumed by children, pregnant or breastfeeding women, old people or those who suffer from high blood pressure. It tastes very much like real coffee and contains only natural ingredients, e.g. barley, rye and chicory. Edina Dékány, Maresi Foodbroker Kft.’s brand manager told Trade magazin that sales of Maresi’s branded products are stable, while special goods such as Maresi Organic coffee milk and Vienna iced coffee even managed to realise considerable sales growth. The Maresi Vienna iced coffee line is special as these products contain a real dose of coffee and thanks to their high cream content they are really creamy; their packaging is genuine ‘coffee-to-go’ style. Exciting new versions will appear in this line alongside Vienna iced coffee and Vienna Cappuccino.