COFFEE MARKET IN SCANDINAVIA FOR FUTURE BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES

The purpose of this study is to explore the coffee market in the Scandinavian countries in order to identify if this is a market worth investing on. After the 2020 pandemic, I thought of working on a project that would allow me to evaluate if investing in the coffee industry was worth giving it a thought. Being originally from Honduras, the fourth biggest coffee exporter in the world after Brazil, Colombia and Vietnam, motivated me to explore the subject further. The nordic countries, other than doing well economically, have the highest numbers in terms of coffee consumption. In particular Finland, it is the number one coffee consumer per capita in the world. Despite its small population, the country consumes exuberant numbers of coffee a year yet, has fairly small amounts of brands that operate in this market. In recent years, the interest for specialty coffee and fair-trade brands might represent a total shift of coffee consumer behaviour. The biggest coffee multinationals are analysed in order to explore the marketing strategies they have implemented along their path. Nespresso is the coffee pioneer who started to educate consumers into coffee culture, therefore created a path for Starbucks to evolve. They both focused on opposite approaches towards the consumer making them unique on their communication strategies. Nespresso leveraged on the Nespresso Club which distinguished itself for being prestigious and elite. On the other hand Starbucks has put its efforts on its “third place”, leveraging their location and comfortability. In 2020, with the Covid pandemic and with a shift towards a more customer oriented market, the coffee industry has had to adapt. Ready- to-drink beverages that are highly convenient, decaffeinated coffee for a more conscious consumer and having coffee become part of e- commerce, are only some of the trends that will be explored in order to identify where the market is shifting towards.