Year In Review: Packaged Tea

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 SKU-level 91.6% accuracy.

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Welcome to Unioncrate’s Year In Review, looking this time at the packaged tea category.

‍‍Packaged Tea

First up, we’ll take a look at the Packaged Tea category, which saw a 17.6% spike in sales for 2020.

• As people shifted into working from home back in March, tea became the drink of choice for more people with a 23.4% jump in growth for packaged tea since the onset of the pandemic.
  

• While loose tea didn’t find favor with consumers (it took a 34% YOY drop), pyramid tea bags were especially popular with a 19.3% YOY uptick in growth.
  

• Whether you drink green, white, black, or herbal, Nielsen stats show that you’re not alone. Meanwhile, RTD chai’s year was less positive, with a decrease in growth of 77.6% since March. Why buy tea ready-to-drink when you have time at home to brew it yourself?
  

Some News of the Brews (get it?)

• Vadham Teas released a monthly subscription box, allowing consumers to try five new exotic flavors each month and find a new favorite.
  

• UK-based PG Tips launched a campaign to promote awareness about the sustainability of tea bags after announcing its switch to biodegradable packaging free of plastic.
  

• Tenzo Tea stepped up and donated 100% of proceeds in March to food banks nationwide.
  

• Numi Organic Tea pledged on Earth Day to be carbon-neutral by 2023.

Next up: Hand Sanitizer

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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.