Coffee Report
Starbucks’ 2016 fall beverage trio
Starbucks once again demonstrated the extraordinary popularity of pumpkin spice latte (PSL) on its 13th seasonal return in September.
In the 24 hours after it was introduced Starbucks added more than 150,000 visits daily. The beverage single-handedly boosted sales to 11% of the entire quick service restaurant (QSR) market segment. Prior to PSL’s return, among beverage retailers Starbucks held 67.5% of the national market for coffee based chains (compared to Dunkin’ Donuts at 20.5%, Einstein Bros (3.5%), and Tim Hortons (2.7%), according to Eli Portnoy, c.e.o. of Sense360.
Portnoy said that in the week following the Sept. 5 introduction the company’s traffic “jumped by 6.96%. Thus the reintroduction of the PSL appears to have increased Starbucks visits by close to 7%.”
“Starbucks’ national market share jumped a whopping 2%, putting it at over 69% of the national coffee market,” writes Portnoy, adding, “In this time period, Dunkin’ Donuts dropped three percent, from 20.5 to 17.5.”
In addition to its pumpkin, Starbucks introduced a new Chile mocha and returned its popular salted caramel mocha to the lineup.