STiR coffee and tea magazine

56 STiR coffee and tea / Issue 2, 2017 (April/May) Condon said that impromptu visits during the show were helpful nials and men emerging as key consumer groups, foodservice sales are experiencing impressive increases, while online shopping and retail serve as key consumer sales channels. People are very interested in high quality, great tasting food and specialty foods offer both." But grocers have little wiggle room when it comes to selecting the right retail mix for their shelves. American grocers averaged only 1.7% net profit in 2015, up from the recession years but thin compared to most industries. Weekly sales average $11 per square foot of retail area, according to the Food Marketing Institute (FMI). To main- tain that average, the high volume, low margin nature of the grocery business makes it imperative that every product in the store turnover rapidly. As product development manager at The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., Grover launched 500 SKU's to create the Master Choice brand, the first premium store brand in the US. She later worked with Liberty Richter and BRI-AL relaunching proprietary brands and coordinating marketing for 50 imported and domestic brands. "Buyers do not have a hole on the shelf. They are monitoring thousands of items, many best sellers," she explains. "My responsibility (as a buyer) was to add some vari- ety, to compete with variety," she said. Suppliers succeed where there is an opportunity gap. "As a buyer, I'm always will- ing to listen to opportunities but they must be commercially viable, and not so unusual that people cannot visualize it on their table. Blood orange sounds like a great artisanal flavor for tea, but not blood sausage tea," she laughed. A typical store stocks around 25,000 food products including hundreds of teas. The USDA's Economic Research Service estimates there are 320,000 packaged foods from which to choose which means there are more than a dozen contenders for every slot. This is why metrics are so critical, says Grover. "In addition to seeking products that enhance their variety of offerings, buyers are constantly reviewing slow perform- ers, the bottom 10% on their category list," she explains. Brand Australia Australia has a large urban population, 90% of the country's 24.5 million residents live in urban areas with 60% of those in cities larger than 1 million. But even in Melbourne (4.6 million) and Sydney (4.2 million) the female population of tea drinkers under the median 37 years of age with a taste for pomegranate hibiscus is small. There are only 1.4 million females in the entire country between the ages of 15 and 24 years. "We felt now was the time to look at new avenues as Australia only has a limited population and potential. The Australian government is trying to encourage exports hence the funding to the likes of FIAL. China is also a huge opportunity but the US appealed as culturally our two countries are similar, we speak the same language, and already have many close links. You have to appreciate that one large state in the US gives us the same potential as the whole of Australia," he said. In 2016 the US imported only $189,000 of Australian tea (this is the value declared to customs), down from $372,000 in 2015. Many smaller shipments will have arrived by mail and are not included in this total. Australia exported $3.1 billion worth of goods in 2016 but exports of tea, cof- fee, mate, and combined represent only 0.02% of the total value of exports. Gatekeeper It takes a diverse, experienced, and skill- ful team to bring a product to market. Large corporations employ career spe- cialists, Grover uses a different approach. "She can pull in just the right people for almost any project from her extensive network," say colleagues, adding "On the rare occasions when she hasn't done something firsthand, she knows someone who has." Grover is focused on providing solu- tions that require putting people together to get the job done. Her team consists of Donna George, a brand manager and strategist with 35 years of experience; Patty Murray, the team's marketing and communications specialist; and Cas Sloane, a veteran sales executive based in Canada. Her role as a gatekeeper is critical in conserving resources and credibility. "Janis likes to succeed and likes to help other people succeed,'' says Murray. "Sometimes that means helping someone understand they are not ready for market. Even so, Janis will tell them what they need to do. When they are ready, she will be ready too." In part two STiR explores marketing strategies used by Australian tea brands that have landed their teas in America. The article describes logis- tical challenges that inevitably arise when first exporting to the US.

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