Douwe Egberts has been roasting and blending coffee since Egberts Douwes opened his first shop in the Netherlands, in 1753. Since then it’s grown and become the third largest coffee roaster in the world. In countries like the Netherlands, Germany and France, Douwe Egberts ground coffee enjoys a commanding market presence, and in the Netherlands it outsells even CocaCola! Douwe Egberts came to the UK in 1984 with a range of instant coffees and two years later brought it’s ground coffees to market. With its established heritage in Europe and superior quality, Douwe Egberts Ground coffee quickly became the market leader in the UK. Never one to rely on its heritage, Douwe Egberts has been at the forefront of innovation, and created the single serve coffee segment with the launch of the Senseo system in 2001.
OUGD503 Responsive Andrea Hannah Cooper ‘Generate excitement about Douwe Egberts coffee, and create a desire for better coffee at home’
Over the last 10 years, Douwe Egberts have tried to maintain relevance with consumers, through new products such as the Inspirations range of Instant coffee, and the new-look range of ‘Lifestyle’ ground coffee. In the last year, we have also launched our new brand identity, with the hope of appealing to younger consumers. Most recently we have launched ‘The Flavour Collective’ – a range of three flavoured instant coffees designed to bring variety for coffee lovers and engage younger consumers with instant coffee.
Coffee, and more broadly hot drinks are becoming the territory of older drinkers, and that is particularly true for Douwe Egberts. Our main consumers are 50+ with very few younger people choosing to drink coffee at home. The brand in the UK has a retail value of £64m. The largest part of the portfolio is Instant coffee valued, followed by Ground coffee and then Single Serve Pods. The brand in the UK has a mission to ‘Challenge and disrupt the category by building a dynamic brand that consumers love’. The brand vision is to ‘Inspire and surprise shoppers and consumers to discover and explore the brand’s coffee experiences’.
History and brand of Douwe Egberts