THE GREAT POTENTIAL OF FRENCH MARKET

THE GREAT POTENTIAL OF FRENCH MARKET

 

French people are crazy about coffee. According to a study run by Starbucks, 40% of French people drink coffee which is, from far, one of the highest rate in Europe.  For French people, drinking coffee is a lot more than a simple way to be “boosted” .

For 27% of them, drinking coffee is a social ritual, they enjoy the moment of sharing with friends, have a break. They enjoy the situation as well as (not to say more) than the coffee itself.
They drink coffee essentially in coffee places (61%) or at home (60%) and some of them at work (28%). That is probably why coffee drives are not spreading that much in France compared to America, Australia or all the Americanized countries. In the French life style, coffee is less a take-away associated with work than a good espresso associated with home comfort. We often read that the future of the coffee market is in take-away brands like McCafé or Starbucks and that the French consumer is becoming more and more a « go with » consumer. But France is not there yet and maybe never will. Marketers need to pay attention to rituals associated with coffee in the country they want to target.

Some brands, like Nespresso, succeeded in increasing their market share in France with the launch of espresso coffee machine and “dosettes”. This kind of coffee is really appreciated in France because it goes with the French vision of coffee : fancy, relaxing, associated with the home comfort …

According to the same study, 75% of French people would stop spending money on other things to keep on consuming coffee. They rank coffee before CD/DVD, concert, theatre, shopping, hair dresser spending. And, how crazy, they could do easier without facebook or twitter (72%), without desert (58%) or without wine (66%) than without coffee ! Sex is the only thing that still remain before their coffee addiction !

Such a product seems to be the easiest thing to market as regard as how much consumers love it but the real stake on this market is to increase market share. Why? Because 94% of the French population already drink coffee, this is the second more consume beverage after water. The coffee consumption has remained stable for years (300 000 tons per year) because the coffee market is a “close market” which means that everyone knows about coffee (it is not a matter of awareness) and consumers are not going to drink more coffee. 

Thus, brands have to be innovative and France remain a great market to launch new machines or new types of coffee. No need to convince French people to drink coffee, they already buy it and love it. What is important to do is to develop a offer which go with their consumption habits.