This morning I was fortunate enough, whilst doing the weekly shop, to be able to browse the tea aisle in my local Tesco's. Normally, I follow the list, throw what I need into the basket, serve myself at the self service till, then it's onto the next shop.
I had a little bit of extra time so stood in the tea aisle and had a good look around, something I've not done in ages. My local Tesco's is a Express and is fairly small. However, in all fairness, the tea aisle (though significantly less then the allowance for coffee!) is quite large compared to the actual size of the shop.
What frustrated me hugely whilst looking at the shelves is the ratio of the amount of tea compared to actual choice. I was quite annoyed to see shelves and shelves of the same blend, in effect making customers have a choice of only four or five tea's.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with Tetley or Yorkshire Gold or PG Tips. People will always have their favourite tea and favourite blend. Rather, my annoyance was because there was a staggering four shelves reserved for packs of Tetley 100's meaning other blends were being squeezed out. It rather reminded me of a horrible weed taking over the garden and strangling, and then killing off, the pretty flowers.
Where once the choice of products from Twinings was quite extensive, I was saddened to see the selection of tea available has halved. Likewise with Teapigs. One or two of their blends had disappeared.
I was also staggered that the choices of loose tea were down to just two! Twinings Earl Grey and Yorkshire Tea. Staggering. So, what if you don't like Earl Grey and perhaps not keen on Yorkshire Tea. What would you buy then?
I left Tesco's deflated. I do not like one product trying to dominate the market, therefore limiting the choice customers can have.
It is because of this, that I have not brought tea from a supermarket in nearly nine months. In fact, I think the last actual tea I brought in a shop was Twinings Comforting Liquorice which was on special price after Christmas. As a tea lover that is astounding. I can quite safely say that almost all of the tea (bar a trip to Twinings shop in May) that I have purchased this year has been online.
And that is down to solely one reason ... lack of choice.
On the internet there is a cornucopia of choice. There are sites that specialise in green tea, sites that specialise in herbal, black, fruit ... any tea that you like. One of my favourite online tea shops, and the only place I will ever buy my Jasmine Pearls is Kensington Tea Company. Likewise, Northern Tea Company is ace for chocolate tea, darjeeling and oolong. Bluebird Tea is fantastic for exotic blends such as Cherry Bakewell and Lime and Cola.
All of these online shops have brilliant choice and can really open up the doors so you can experience high quality tea mixed with perfectly blended flavours. Yes, you may have to pay a little bit more but in each of these companies, the tea that you drink are mini-experiences that are flavoursome and rewarding.
So it saddens me that people who perhaps cannot get online only have the choice of a few blends, therefore they are being limited by companies that jostle for position on supermarket shelves.
Since I've started writing this blog I've discovered some totally awesome companies out there. We have Wise Owl tea whose Bamboo tea is quite frankly sublime. You have The Tea Shed whose quality tea and funky packaging can really appeal to the younger tea drinker.
Of course there would be no supermarket big enough to stock every blend from every brand in the UK that would be a impossibility. But please, supermarkets, offer your customers a little bit of choice in what they can purchase. You may just be surprised how a little bit of choice can spur customers on to making a purchase they perhaps were not planning.
People shop with their eyes, so by displaying teas in all their varied and wonderful packaging you will have impulse purchases. And if a tea is good enough it will hook your customers in and will continue to buy the things they like.
Well, that's my musings on what could be a ideal tea world!
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