Two thirds of tea drinkers would pay more for a cuppa

More than two thirds of tea drinkers would pay more for a cuppa, according to an exclusive poll for The Grocer.

The current average price of a teabag in the supermarkets is 2p [IRI 52 w/e 17 August 2013], but 45.8% say they would pay up to 5p a bag if the quality was right; 13.6% would pay up to 10p; 4.1% would pay up to 20p; and 3.9% would pay more than that.

However, nearly one third (32.6%) would not pay more than 2p for their brew.

The findings, from a Harris Interactive poll of more than 2,000 consumers for The Grocer, suggests more premium tea brands could win greater share of the market if they can convince shoppers they are worth paying more for.

“This is surely a very compelling message to all those tea brands out there trying to add value to the category through a more premium tea proposition,” said head of consumer & retail research at Harris Interactive Lucia Juliano.

Indeed, the only top-five tea brand in volume growth at present is Twinings, which has seen value sales climb 2.5% on volumes up 0.6% in the past year [IRI], selling for an average of £17.25 a kilo, versus a market average of £7.

But brands that think they can squeeze some extra cash out of consumers by merely tinkering with the shape of their teabags should think again: three quarters of consumers have no preference for particular shapes of teabag.

Read more of our Hot Beverages report.

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_{Harris UK Interactive is a full service, consultative custom market research agency working internationally out of offices in the UK and Europe. With in-house expertise covering all areas of research, design, implementation, analysis and reporting, it has particular strengths in loyalty and brand. For more information, visit the Harris Interactive UK website .}