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Starbucks launches Via in UK and Japan
A year after Starbucks introduced Starbucks Via Ready Brew in the United States and Canada, it has announced the launch of Via throughout company operated and licensed locations in the United Kingdom on 8 March and Japan on 14 April.
“Starbucks Via Ready Brew continues to excite customers and represents a significant opportunity for the company to expand our reach through a broadened coffee portfolio,” said Starbucks chairman, president and CEO Howard Schultz. “Consumers have quickly adopted Starbucks Via as their coffee while on the go. Whether it is brewed as a single cup before leaving the house, while travelling, or at the office, customers have found it is a convenient solution.”
The nationwide UK launch of Starbucks Via on 8 March builds on the successful pilot in London and will introduce Britain’s 31 million coffee drinkers to a high-quality instant and microground coffee. This launch comes on the heels of a successful local-market trial conducted in London; recognition in a survey by Allegra Strategies which voted Starbucks Via as the ‘Most Innovative New Product’ in 2009; and the availability of Starbucks Via on all easyJet routes in early 2010.
In its first year, Starbucks Via has helped Starbucks claim a larger piece of the overall global coffee market. Instant coffee makes up a majority of coffee purchases in many of the international markets where Starbucks has a retail presence, and represents 63% of total coffee sold in Japan and more than 80% of coffee drunk at home in the UK. Together, these two markets account for more than $4 billion in instant coffee retail sales annually. Globally, instant coffee represents 40% of coffee sales, which translates into an annualized $21 billion and growing market.
Source: Starbucks Corporation
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