Eight O'Clock Coffee's market share gets a boost
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Eight O'Clock Coffee's U.S. grocery store market share for the popular beverage soared nearly 30 percent to 5.5 percent, the company said Wednesday, as a recession that has thrown millions of Americans out of work spurred many to make their own brew.
Consumer Reports recently rated Eight O'Clock Coffee a best buy for ground brews, at a time when Americans try to cope with the global economic crisis.
"A lot of the media surrounding this is what helped garner attention and generate sales," said David Allen, vice-president Marketing for Eight O'Clock, based in Montvale, New Jersey.
"We are about a 4.3 percent share of the coffee category in the (U.S.) grocery store, if you look at a 52-week period of time," Allen said.
In the four-week period ending February 22, however, the company's market share for coffee in U.S. grocery stores reached 5.5 percent, Allen said.
The figures were gathered by Information Resources Incorporated, which measures scan data through grocery stores, Allen said.
Eight O'Clock coffee, which was bought by Mumbai, India-based Tata in 2006, has been around since 1859, Allen said.
Consumer Reports' March issue, which was on shelves in early February, ranked Eight O'Clock's 100 percent Colombian as its best buy at $6.28 per lb, beating well-known brands including Folgers, Maxwell House and Starbucks in taste tests.
"The confluence of things going on in the world with the economy being what it is ... becomes this really good time for this to happen," Allen said.
Eight O'Clock coffee is sold in large outlets including Wal-Mart Stores Inc, Target and in 70 percent of U.S. grocery stores, Allen said.
The 2009 National Coffee Drinking Trends survey that was released by the National Coffee Association of U.S.A. on Saturday, showed that while daily coffee consumption in the country was flat, the number of people making it at home was on the rise.
And while the premium for Colombian coffee beans has soared to levels dating back to around 1997, Allen said the company will not raise the price of its Colombian coffee.
(Reporting by Marcy Nicholson; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
