When you’re looking to create your own tea brand, it’s important to have a clear value proposition that places your range firmly within your target market and is appropriate for the revenue you wish to achieve – and overall profits.
High-end, specialty teas are certainly the way to go in a tea market that is otherwise saturated with mass-market, poorer-quality offerings. These mass-market teas may be cheap, but as the old adage reminds us, you get what you pay for.
So let’s look at what a specialty tea company needs to know about the differences between the two types of tea products.
What a specialty tea company should know about tea products?
1. High-end teas are made from finer ingredients, including higher-quality tea leaves, organic spices, and other premium ingredients. Mass market, cheaper teas tend to rely on artificial flavorings, ingredients, and chemicals rather than pure and natural ingredients.
2. Specialty teas are far more likely to be traceable, organic, sustainable, and fair trade, all of which are attributes that today’s customers want to see in the products that they buy. These attributes are far harder to achieve with mass-market teas, which can come from a variety of sources rather than a single estate.
3. Specialty teas offer a far wider range of flavors and combinations, including those designed to tackle certain health and well-being areas. For example, you can buy high-end teas with natural and effective ingredients that promote energy, better digestion, optimized women’s health, better sleep, and other characteristics.
4. Mass market teas tend only to be available from supermarkets and major retailers. High-end products will usually be sold online, either directly via delivery or through more specialist shops where the clientele are looking for high-quality food and drink experiences.
5. Tea manufacturers can charge a far higher premium for high-end products. Customers are willing to pay more for excellent products, and this offers far better opportunities for brands to build profitable businesses.
Why specialty tea companies should aim for the niche?
The tea market is already huge and is growing fast, with traditional black and green teas now being joined by a whole host of products including white, hemp, rooibos, chai, herbal, turmeric and plenty more. The more tightly you can define your brand and the higher quality of your promotion, products, packaging, personnel, and distribution routes, the more you can charge for your products.
Healthy margins are the key to business success, and a specialty tea company that can create a powerful brand within its target market can reap the rewards. Customers are likely to be loyal and buy more from those brands whose values they agree with and whose products they believe to be delicious, healthy, unique, and aspirational.
Whether your tea brand is new or established and growing, Blue Ocean Tea offers a range of highly successful services to help you build a strong business within the tea market. From blending and packaging to design and logistics, we are here to help, with consultancy and research services also on hand to help optimize your strategy before you leap into a new market. Please contact us to find out more.