Year In Review: Packaged Coffee

The following insights are powered by Nielsen in partnership with Unioncrate, an artificial intelligence demand planning platform that combines consumer behavior and historical shipment data to predict sales and inventory with up to 91.6% SKU-level accuracy.

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Welcome to Day 5 of Unioncrate’s Year In Review. Today we look at the packaged coffee category, which saw 10% growth in 2020.

Packaged Coffee

• When the pandemic was first beginning earlier this year, consumers made sure to stock up on their favorite packaged coffee varieties. In the 4-week period ended 3/21 the category grew 29.4% YOY, compared to a 2.2% decline the previous 4-week period ended 2/22.

• Whole bean coffee has been particularly popular since March, with an increase of 23.5% YOY in the period since then.

• Working from home and managing virtual schedules called for a caffeine boost. Espresso pods saw growth as high as 86.8% in a single 4-week period, with an overall growth of 65.1% during the pandemic.
  

Caffeinated Highlights

• Death Wish Coffee Company joined Front Row Motor Sports to promote their “Thank a Trucker” campaign, which focused on showing appreciation for truck drivers on the frontline to deliver goods during the pandemic.

• Super Coffee, a brand under Kitu Life Inc., added Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez as minority investors, instantly taking the brand to the A-list.

• Molson Coors Beverage Company began distributing La Colombe RTD coffee, branching out of the alcoholic beverage sector and into the caffeinated one.

• Blue Bottle Coffee announced during lockdown that the carbon emissions from delivery of all online orders would be offset through the company’s contributions to renewable energy sources, giving us another reason to stay home and let the coffee come to us.

Up Next: Alternative Dairy

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About Unioncrate

Unioncrate is an AI-powered Integrated Business Planning (IBP) platform that delivers demand forecasts with unmatched accuracy, collaborative visibility, and actionable intelligence—enabling CPG brands to plan and execute agile supply chain strategies at the click of a button.