Coffee in Belgium

PROSPECTS

Premiumisation in key categories pushes value sales

Strong premiumisation in categories such as fresh ground coffee pods and fresh coffee beans led retail current value sales to grow significantly in 2018. At the same time, retail volume sales registered marginal decline in Belgium: this was mostly due to maturity in fresh ground coffee, which continued to account for most of the category’s retail volume sales.

Premiumisation in pods and beans: Two different trends

Premiumisation in both fresh ground coffee pods and fresh coffee beans remained a highly relevant trend in Belgium in 2018. However, the two categories showed different tendencies.

Boom of specialist coffee shops

In 2017 and 2018, several independent specialist coffee shops opened in Belgium, often serving super-premium specialist coffee. Such foodservice establishments started to become popular at the beginning of the review period, although they would often not last long.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Douwe Egberts retains leadership despite losing share

Competition between coffee’s two biggest players remained fierce in 2018. Douwe Egberts managed to retain its leadership due to the broadening of its offering in fresh coffee beans and to innovation in fresh ground coffee pods, most notably regarding its brand L’Or Espresso.

Strong gains for second-ranked Nestlé

Nestlé Belgilux, on the contrary, recorded strong value sales growth in addition to gaining impressive value share in 2018. This was due to several factors: the continuous success of Nespresso; innovation in instant coffee, with the launch of products such as Nescafé Azera, a premium instant coffee; and the extremely positive performance of Nescafé Dolce Gusto, due also to the increasing popularity of the brand’s multi-functional machines.

Private label maintains stable sales

In the context of premiumisation, private label managed to record stable value sales in 2018. This was mainly achieved through the broadening and upgrading of retailers’ offerings in several coffee categories.

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