Ruskin Felix Consulting LLC partnered and prepared a report analyzing the coffee industry and preparing a comprehensive study on the competitors. One of the major competitors that was focused upon was La Colombe. We tried to help by explaining the company analysis, store availability, their unique strategy, sales analysis, the coffee product segmentation, segmentation based on distribution channel, coffee consumption and highlights related to the coffee industry. This report was thoroughly detailed, and each section was analyzed carefully.
La Colombe (www.lacolombe.com) is a leading coffee roaster known for ethical, long-term trade practices with growers. Considered one of the pioneers of the third wave of coffee, it provides signature classic blends and exceptional single-origin coffees to cafés, hotels, restaurants and retailers around the world. In addition, the company owns and operates 30 cafés in Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, Boston, Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles – with additional locations and new markets scheduled to open in 2019. The company has also made headlines in the ready-to-drink business with its DRAFT LATTE – the world’s first-ever textured iced latte.
The whole ready-to-drink coffee sector has annual sales of $4.1 billion 1 and is increasing at a rate of 12% across all channels. La Colombe’s ready-to-drink beverages are growing at a rate of 130 percent in the grocery channel. The multi-serve segment is growing at twice the rate of the overall category, demonstrating that customers want ready-to-drink options for their at-home needs. Draft Latte has gained over 55,000 points of distribution nationwide and has achieved more than 51% ACV.
La Colombe’s Unique Strategy – Getting Reviews Lift from Gift Card Incentives: Offering a review reward was one technique La Colombe employed to more than quadruple its review collecting. According to Power Reviews study, nearly three-quarters of consumers (73%) would be inspired to submit a review if they were given a reward. Offering a review bonus was one approach employed by La Colombe to more than quadruple their review collecting. During July and August, the company increased its review volume by 82%, and between July and September, it increased by 310%. This was significant since it allowed the organization to obtain many new evaluations in time for the holiday buying season.
La Colombe also uses feedback from customers to improve its user experience and web design. When several evaluations revealed that customers were having trouble choosing the proper roast level, the team recognized that the roast-level labelling in the product descriptions was not obvious. As a result, La Colombe’s web team re-calibrated its roast ranges on its website to better fit with consumer wants, needs, and expectations, with a specially designed red header under each product clearly stating its roast degree. According to Liz Cornell, La Colombe’s User Experience Lead, obtaining this insight via user-generated content was a more direct and cost-effective way to find potential for improvement than organizing focus groups and meeting with an independent digital firm once a week.
