The chilled ready-to-drink or iced coffee sector has experienced significant growth in recent years, with the majority of product launches taking place in Asia.
According to Innova Market Insights, in the 12 months to the end of July 2014 the iced coffee segment accounted for only 4.2 percent of global launches in the soft drink industry. However, this is up from less than three percent five years ago, and the actual number of launches has nearly trebled over that time.
Asia accounted for 53 percent of RTD coffee introductions, ahead of Europe with 30 percent and North America with 11.5 percent.
Lu Ann Williams, director of innovation at Innova Market Insights, said “Although ambient canned and bottled coffee drinks continue to dominate globally … particularly in well-established markets such as those in parts of Asia and the USA, it is the chilled milk-based variants in lidded cups for on-the-go consumption that have been leading growth, particularly in the relatively undeveloped European market.”
The dairy industry has been driving activity, with launches including Emmi of Switzerland’s Caffe Latte range, Starbucks’ Discoveries range of RTD iced coffees from Arla, German company, J Bauer’s premium Mövenpick line as well as the Landliebe range from FrieslandCampina.
More recent activity has focused on the arrival of leading hot coffee brands into the chilled sector. A significant entrant to the German market in 2014 was Mondelez, which brought its market-leading Jacobs coffee brand to the chilled iced coffee market. During the summer of 2014, the world’s leading coffee brand Nescafe entered the European chilled dairy iced coffee market with the launch of Shakissimo, a range of three milk-rich coffees in lidded cups.
Earlier this year, Vitasoy launched its Soy Milky Iced Coffee product, in response to consumer demand for a non-dairy, lactose free iced coffee product.
Beth Roberts, senior brand manager, Vitasoy said “We asked our fans what flavour soy milk Vitasoy should develop next and iced coffee was a clear winner.”