Nescafé has launched into the ready to drink category with three canned iced coffee varieties available nationally from April.
Nescafé is the number one coffee brand in Australia with a strong heritage dating back to the 1930s. The iconic brand has grown a cult following with research showing that 98 per cent of Australians are aware of Nescafé and one in two households regularly purchase it.
This is evident through the brand’s results in 2020, where it delivered more than $300 million in sales, a growth of 5.4 per cent on the previous year.
According to Convenience Measures Australia (CMA), the number one mission in a convenience store is to buy a drink, and this has seen the iced coffee category continue to grow year on year.
The RTD iced coffee segment is growing at 4.9 per cent with small format (250ml-375ml) in particular bringing new shoppers into the category as they significantly over index in driving trial.
With that in mind, and with Nescafé’s already established brand credentials across a variety of formats, there is huge category opportunity for Nescafé to expand into the iced coffee RTD space.
Nescafé iced coffee cans are available in Espresso, Flat White, and Mocha flavours in 250ml cans.
“Nescafé launching into iced coffee RTD is a huge opportunity to grow the iced coffee segment further as we will be the first brand to bring existing coffee credentials to the RTD category,” said a Nestlé spokesperson.
“Nescafé is uniquely positioned compared to competitors. The iced coffee RTD category has traditionally been dominated by coffee flavoured milks that ‘fill me up’ whereas a new subcategory of real coffee in a can is forming, as 76 per cent of shoppers are looking for an iced coffee RTD to provide an ‘energy boost’ or ‘thirst quench’ (FiftyFive5 Consumer Tracker Research 2020).”
While the Nescafé brand is already a staple grocery item in most homes across Australia, the newly launched canned iced coffee variants will open the brand up to a wider demographic.
“All life stages are drinking RTD iced coffee but current brands over index in targeting youth,” says Nestlé.
“The Nescafé brand will drive appeal to a wider demographic and drive category penetration by appealing to a variety of age profiles. And Nescafé’s prior coffee credentials will bring credibility to the new segment.”
The launch will be supported by a huge above the line campaign to drive awareness that Nescafé is now available in a can.