If you’re already in business, you might have heard the following sentence: “Your tea is much more expensive than in supermarkets”.
Well, this should be true. And it should not concern you.
Here’s why:
- You will hear this type of comment on rare occasions only,
- You’re not in competition with supermarkets,
- You’re not trying to serve customers buying tea in supermarkets.
Why do customers buy tea in a supermarket?
Supermarkets are convenient. You can buy pretty much everything in one place.
The dominating packaging type is optimized for ease of use: teabags in sealed pouches.
This is perfect for people who either:
- are on a tight budget,
- don’t give too much thought to which tea they buy.
No judgment on my part – not everybody has to be a tea connoisseur.
The important is this:
The needs addressed by a supermarket fit a specific type of buyer that is not your target customer.
Why do customers buy tea from a specialized brand or tea shop?
Specialized tea brands and tea stores are built on the idea that customers are buying a product of higher quality.
Buyers will be more focused on the product and its perceived quality, on the brand, on the design, on the shopping experience, on the advice, and on the possibility to smell (sometimes to taste) before buying.
And, they sell giftable items.
And your customers accept to pay a premium for these reasons. I would even argue that they want to pay more (how would you feel if you made a beautiful gift that cost you only 2,50€?).
So no, you’re not in competition with supermarkets. You are complementary to them.
How to easily show the difference in quality to a skeptical customer?
Do you still feel like addressing the price objection in your tea shop?
I might have just the right idea for you…
A nice exercise that does the trick is to visually compare 2 types of tea:
- One loose tea from your shop,
- Its teabag equivalent bought from the supermarket that you open up.
You’ll usually end up with the same result as in the picture above. Gorgeous loose tea with visually prominent ingredients against tea dust that may contain white flavor granules.
It is not the same product, hence not the same price. And some consumers just need to visualize it to understand.
Conclusion
I’m not saying that tea products sold in tea shops are “better”. Each type fulfills a role for a different target audience.
And I don’t see any strategy where it makes sense for you to compete with a supermarket.
On the contrary, you should cultivate the differences via an enhanced shopping experience that set you apart from supermarkets.
