Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/1297489
32 STiR coffee and tea / Issue 5, 2020 (October / November) K By Dan Bolton 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 0 2 3 4 5 6 7 12-24 WEEKS EVERYONE CONSUMER WHOLESALER OVERSEAS IMPORTER LOCAL EXPORTER EVERYONE AUCTION TEA GRADEN RETAILER ausshal Dugarr's retail vision is unfolding nicely amid a pandemic that is radi- cally transforming tea retail. "Online sales are up three-fold during the July-September quarter. The second quarter of 2020 was the best quarter in the company's history," says Dugarr, 37, who in 2015 founded India-based Teabox, the tea industry's most sophisticated verti- cally integrated, high-tech, multi-channel subscription sales and marketing platform. Teabox benefits enormously from a five-year head start as tea retail pivots online. Wholesalers and retailers in Asia, North America, and Europe that are resilient enough to have weathered lockdowns, restaurant closures, and abandoned offices; all point to online sales as the key to their survival. Dugarr and others STiR spoke with have important lessons to share in a global market where: • There is no going back to how things were before Covid-19. The pandemic changed consumer behavior, accelerating many early-stage trends, forcing the tea indus- try to adjust to a new reality: purchasing tea online in direct-to-consumer transactions; or via Instacart-like aggregators for grocery pickup and delivery will ultimately account for most tea sales. • Transparency and the ability to deliver fresh tea re-define the premium cat- egory. Serious impediments in transport, logistics, and storage reveal a bulky, costly, opaque, and inefficient supply chain that delivers stale tea. • Retail sampling strategies based on the premise that "each one, teach one" are in jeopardy. Mall stores and independent tea shops responsible for introducing and upselling millions of conventional tea drinkers to specialty tea must innovate new ways to educate and entice. • Safety, convenience, and the ever-present threat of Covid-19 add urgency to tea's historical reputation as a healthy beverage that combats inflammation and boosts immunity. Medical researchers are documenting science-based findings that components of tea inhibit the reproduction of coronavirus in the lab. Healthy ver- sions of ready-to-drink (RTD) tea are emerging as the preferred immunity-boosting, single-serve format. Online sales offer tea retailers a reprieve during the Online sales offer tea retailers a reprieve during the unprecedented upheaval in sales to foodservice venues. unprecedented upheaval in sales to foodservice venues. Tea Pivots Online Tea Pivots Online Centrally located direct-to-consumer retailer Teabox buys from tea gardens and then packages and ships processed tea for delivery within a week, besting the traditional supply chain by 10-20 weeks.