In friday’s edition of The Times (8th September) the Business section ran an article on Unilever’s purchase of Bristol-based herbal tea retailer Pukka Herbs.
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In tune with the Consumer Packaged Goods Industry Insight recently published on the Downloads section of Beyond-Consulting’s website, which highlights that the rise of artisan, niche producers, “Unilever summed up in one confected word in its annual report the rationale that led it to buy Pukka Herbs the upmarket tea-maker – premiumising“. (Harry Wilson – The Times).
Beyond-Consulting’s Industry insight highlights artisan/niche/premium variation producers as a major growth area (x3 faster than other firms) within the CPG sector, as well as in retail overall.
This high end, niche area is proving to be too tempting for large brands to ignore. Frito-Lays Chips in the US took on the “artisan” crisp market, dominated at the time by Kettle and Cape Cod, by launching their own premium chip, and using the power of their existing customer relationships to succeed in the new, high-end market.
With a history of good, trusted experiences with the Frito-Lay brand, it’s customers have been happy to spend their $s on the new product range, and this has come from both first timers to the artisan crisp category, and switchers from other brands, such as Kettle and Cape Cod.
The success experienced by Frito-Lay is proof that building customer loyalty is a worthwhile investment. The question is – do Unilever have the quality of customer relationships to mirror the Frito-Lay example, and make a success of their investment? How will they manage introducing the existing Pukka customer experience to the existing Unlilever customers?
And what about your business? When you look at your Customer Journey, do the interactions, experiences and outcomes provide you with longterm customer loyalty, which could enable you to make bold changes in your future business, but ensure your hard won customers stay with you?
You can see Industry Insights for many more industry sectors, in the Downloads section of the Beyond-Consulting website.