SHANGHAI: Starbucks Corp plans to increase its global tea business to US$3bil over the next five years as its starts selling its new line of tea drinks, known as Teavana, across the Asia Pacific region Monday following the products’ entry in China last week.China is Starbucks’ fastest-growing market and the Seattle-based coffee chain is opening 500 stores a year in the world’s most populous nation, aiming for a total of 3,400 stores by 2019.The company is looking to China for growth momentum, honing in on China’s 63.2 billion yuan (US$9.5bil) tea fixation, which is almost ten times bigger than the country’s coffee market. Starbucks’ new tea products may also align with Chinese consumer’s growing demand for products aimed at promoting healthy lifestyles.“The health trend is growing strongly across Asia, and as with most things, uptake of new trends in China tends to be faster than the rest of the world,” said Matthew Crabbe, Mintel Group Ltd.’s head of Asia-Pacific research.“There is a strong tea identity in Asia and it also chimes well with the particularly Asian view of healthcare as being centered around prevention, rather than cure. Because of this, tea-based products are likely to see strong growth.”Tea CultureStarbucks acquired Teavana, a line of teas and tea houses, in 2012, and says the drinks have done well in its U.S stores. American consumers seeking out healthier food and drink options have propelled its tea business to grow 12% last year, with best-seller iced tea growing at 29%.In China, the much larger market for tea drinkers is growing at about 6%, roughly the same pace as coffee. But as those younger consumers get older, they will trade to something more sophisticated, which is where Teavana could fit in.” - Bloomberg

Source: The Star September 12, 2016 04:29 UTC