Peek No: 24  
Dec 31, 2003 

Hello,

It’s New Year..!! Let’s make some tea resolutions this week. Tea is the most popular beverage in the world next to water and the sixth most popular beverage of our country. Medical researchers have proved that tea acts against heart disease and cancer. January is the National Hot Tea Month. The Marketspeek team has brewed the right cup with steaming trends in tea drinking.

But it’s teatime only after the peek into our economy.

New Home Sales

The sale of new homes has fallen to an annual rate of 1.082 million in November, registering a 2.4% drop. This has been the ninth straight month to witness the sale of new homes exceeding the 1 million mark. This indicates the strength of the housing sector in the U.S.

Durable Goods

Orders of durable goods have decreased in November, by 3.1%. Also, new orders for defense capital goods have dropped by 4.7% during the month. Inventories too fell in November by 0.1% while unfilled orders posted a marginal gain of 0.4%.

Happy New Year..!!

Editor
Marketspeek
Executive Editor - Dr. Sharon Livingston
Editor - Vijay

 Week's Peek

 

  • The Dutch brought tea to the colony of New Amsterdam (later New York) around the middle of the 17th century.
  • The four major types of tea are:
    • White tea
    • Green tea
    • Oolong tea
    • Black tea
  • These types share the same origin - the raw leaves of Camellia sinensis – the tea plant.
  • In our country, iced tea is the simplest form of a beverage. Over 80% of the tea consumed within our country is consumed as an iced beverage.
  • Tea bags were an innovation dreamed up by Thomas Sullivan, New York City in 1904. He found that tea bags were cheaper compared to expensive tins to send samples to his customers.


Vital Statistics

  • United States is the fourth largest tea importing country. US trade statistics report 519 million pounds (236 million kilograms) of annual tea imports. Import of tea is projected to increase at an annual average of 3.6%.
  • 1.42 million pounds of tea is consumed per day in the U.S. Tea consumption continued to grow both in volume and current value terms during 2002.
  • Tea prices in the U.S have risen by a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of approximately 8 to 10% over the past 10 years.

  • The tea industry in the U.S. experienced an 8.5% growth in 2002, compared to the previous year.
  • In current fiscal, the value of retail sales of tea has grown over five times the value of retail sales in 1990. The retail volume sales of tea have also risen by an estimated 1.9% and by 13.4% between 1997 and 2003.

  • The share of tea in the U.S. beverage market is 4.6%. This share is estimated to grow two-fold in the next 5 years.
 

Analysis

Advent of a Tea Culture

  • Tea is making a major resurgence in the U.S as healthy lifestyles are re-emerging. The biggest contributor to the growth is the awareness of health benefits derived from tea drinking .As medicinal benefits of tea are proven, America is putting tea on its social and economic map.
  • Tea marketers can make this trend work for them by adopting apt awareness programs and promoting tea drinking as a healthy habit among all age groups. Besides, the reduction in import tariffs and declining prices in the U.S. are favorable signs for tea importers and distributors, as these will have a positive effect on tea consumption.
  • We, as a nation, are susceptible to changing culinary trends. The ongoing “tea-ebb” may have a lasting impact in our country and is tipped off to gain commercial currency in the form of exclusive tea-boutiques, tea-bars and tea-concoction joints. The entry of tea to our dinner table can also trigger exciting new meal combos. It is for the restaurant industry to come up with bold innovations and catch the imagination of the nation’s palate.
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   Wish I Were

Rewards for Retirees

Jo Manhart of Columbia retired as Executive Director of the Missouri Poultry Federation and felt that she had many more productive years left. She had exceptional qualifications, but found that she could not get a job as prospective employers considered her too old. She realized that many retired people faced the same problem and dreamt of an employment agency for them. She thought of the retired vice-presidents, engineers and other experienced people whose talents lie untapped. She also discovered there were a whole lot of retirees who needed additional income.

Jo decided to find an apt way to serve those retirees She started Available Jones, a staffing agency to place older and retired workers in short-term jobs with help from a few local consultancies. Jo also contracted with a firm that does payroll and started recruiting workers. She had to identify local businesses that used retirees and recruited for them. Since then, there was no looking back! Her company grew in leaps and bounds.

At present, Available Jones has approximately 34 workers – people in their early 40s to early 80s, with branches in Columbia, St.Louis and Kansas City. Her husband has been her pillar of support and today she plans to franchise this in many more cities.

American Express’ “Horizons” magazine, the Wall Street Journal, American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) and the service corps of retired executives profiled Available Jones in their magazines and websites. No doubt it is a successful and innovative effort to bring retired workers to the attention of willing employers. This niche market is all set to spread worldwide.

For further reading:

http://www.score.org

http://www.availablejones.com/

http://home3.americanexpress.com/cards/senior/horizon/displayarticle.asp?FileName=
secondtime.html&Category=5&Issue=2001%20Spring

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   BrandFact

The US magazine Readers Digest started in the late 1910s, refused to carry advertisements in its US edition till 1955.
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  This Week that Age

29th of December 1891: Edison patents "transmission of signals electrically" (radio)

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  Insight

A man's dreams are an index to his greatness.
-- Zadok Rabinwitz
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