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Starbucks named most frequently tried new products in January 2010

February 21, 2010

Starbucks coffee was the No. 1 brand tried by consumers in the coffee/tea category in January, earning twice as many mentions as No. 2 Dunkin' Donuts coffee and No. 3 Celestial Seasonings tea.

The findings emerged from a New Brand Trial survey Market Force conducted last month among its network of 300,000 independent mystery shoppers and merchandisers. Nearly 6,000 consumers responded to a series of questions designed to shed light on which brands drove the most new product trials and why. The research looked at categories including beverages, snacks, coffees/teas, cereals, cleaning products, and health/beauty products.

Coffee products tried more frequently than any other

Eighty two percent of respondents said they drink coffee or tea, and cited traditional brands such as Folgers, Sanka, Lipton and Nestea as the brands they currently have at home. But specialty coffee and teas enticed more consumers to try a new brand or flavor in early 2010.

Out of the 2,000 who responded to this portion of the survey, 52 percent said that they had tried a new brand or flavor of coffee or tea from a grocer in the past 30 days. Their purchases ranged across a variety of brands, with 15 brands receiving 10 or more mentions. Starbucks coffee garnered the highest response in the coffee/tea category with 81 mentions. Dunkin' Donuts coffee received roughly half that number with 43, followed by Celestial Seasonings and Folgers with 35 and 34, respectively, as noted in Graph 2. Tazo Tea was fifth, with 25 mentions.

Beverages including health and energy drinks, as well as sodas, received the largest number of brand name mentions of any category sampled. Coke's vitaminwater, V8, and SoBe were called out by consumers as the top three new brands they remember purchasing in the last 30 days.

Out of the top 17 brands that dominated in the beverage category with 10 or more mentions, Pepsi accounted for five of them including Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, Mountain Dew, Sierra Mist and Gatorade. Starbucks also made it on to the beverage list, while Fuze had a very strong showing as a relatively new entrant, mentioned almost as frequently as much better known brands such as Pepsi and Mountain Dew.

When surveyed consumers were asked what kind of beverages they had on their shelves at home, more than half (52 percent) said bottled water, followed closely by Coke products (49 percent). Pepsi products were named by one-third of respondents (32 percent) and bottled/boxed juices received a similar response (30 percent).

Food & Beverage