Nestlé’s Best-Selling Product Is Not Chocolate
Grossing over $25 billion, this unsuspecting item outsells all others
Grossing over $25 billion, this unsuspecting item outsells all others
Nestlé makes $104,000,000,000 per year. That’s $104 billion — but if I asked you to name their top products, you’d probably guess Butterfinger, KitKat, Crunch, Aero, or Milkybar.
Wrong, it’s actually none of those brands. Confectionary and candy bars made up less than $9 billion of their total income in 2019. Slightly shy of 10% of their turnover.
The real winner. Coffee.
Starbucks, Nescafé & Nespresso
Nestlé buys 110,000 tonnes of green coffee beans per year. The same weight in coffee as 550 fully grown Blue whales, the biggest mammal on earth.
Part of their coffee initiative in 2019 and beyond, was to bring Starbucks “home”.
Nestlé’s own website explains…
“ The rapid launch of our Starbucks portfolio is unprecedented in Nestlé history. In less than 12 months, 29 new products across three new platforms were developed from the ground up and rolled out in more than 40 markets. These efforts generated incremental sales of CHF 300 million in 2019.”
That’s around $326 million on that property alone.
As a whole, their powdered and liquid beverages category makes up 25% of their entire portfolio. A whopping $25.2 billion per year.
This includes iconic coffee brands like “Nescafé, Nespresso, and Starbucks. It also includes Milo, the world’s most popular chocolate malt drink.”
Water — Another Surprise
What struck me as odd, is that something as simple as water generates as much revenue as confectionary.
Think Perrier, San Pellegrino, and Pure Life — all Nestlé owned brands.
Believe it or not, Nestlé owns over 50 individual brands of water. It is now the largest commercial seller of water on the planet.
You Don’t Always Have To Stay in Your Lane
After being formed in 1867 by Henri Nestlé, with a breakthrough milk & flour concoction for non-breastfed babies, it wasn’t until the 1930s when coffee was sold for the first time.
The Wall Street crash of 1929 forced the company to innovate and adapt to the changing market. It was through this hard time that Nescafé was born.
As the company grew it constantly expanded its operation and owned brands, focussing on innovation to drown the competition.
These acquisitions have meant that Nestlé has been shielded from the potential impact of COVID lockdowns. During 2020, water, ice-cream, and baby formula sales were in decline, but their coffee & pet food properties kept the ship afloat.
The demand for coffee in home offices skyrocketed this past year and Nestlé reported a growth of 2.8% in the first half of 2020.
If we can learn anything from Nestlé, it’s to go where the market needs you.