Tea lovers are disappointed that Teavana stores will be closing. Tea is the most popular hot beverage yet, people are used to buying coffee cups therefore, buying a cup of tea is not really considered. It is comforting that Starbucks has not given up on tea but, instead is innovating on making tea as approachable as coffee. They state their mission is, "to create a modern-day tea culture,". It is a tough match for the tea industry since there is still a coffee culture in that "meeting for a coffee" is a means of socializing, dating and business meetings, even in nations that are huge tea drinkers like the U.K. and India.
Starbucks is mostly responsible for creating a coffee culture and wants to create the same for tea. For target marketing it would be better to start with the high drinking nations. In China, India and the U.K. the tea cups bought were above 984 billions of coffee cups sold. In the U.S the number is slowly rising. Would coffee cups now be more expensive because of a decrease of sales that might happen on the next couple of years? Or will coffee companies gather together like tea companies to come up with a strategy to get consumers attention?
Tea industries believe that tea bags are at fault in that consumers are not willing to buy a six dollar cup of tea when they can buy a tea bag for less than a dollar, boil water and have the same tea. Yet, it is a similar procedure with coffee. However, coffee shops sells coffee in their own unique flavor like a restaurant will sell food. Therefore they plan to do the same with tea, "They need to make it like wine. Tea has a hugely long, fascinating history, and that's something they need to highlight," says Mark Perndergrast.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/can-hot-tea-be-as-cool-as-a-cup-of-joe-1510587330
Great article! I am disappointed that Teavana's stores will be closing; however, I agree that coffee tends to sell better because it is associated with socializing and there are always new seasonal flavors that people look forward to trying.
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