MUMBAI: Some 15 years after acquiring Eight O’clock, the fourth-largest coffee brand in the US, Tata Consumer Products is all set to launch it in India, said chairman N Chandrasekaran at the company’s 58th annual general meeting on Friday.
It was through Eight O’clock that Tata Consumer entered the US java market, and since then it has remained a prized feather in the Indian company’s cap.
Eight O’clock will debut in the direct-to-consumer (D2C) model next week, Chandrasekaran said.
Tata Consumer CEO Sunil D’Souza told TOI that Eight O’clock will be launched on “our own exclusive website” and later sold on other online platforms.
The company recently started launching brands in the D2C model as the Covid pandemic has boosted online shopping.
Sonnets was introduced as a D2C/online-first coffee brand.
An internet search shows Eight O’clock’s price at Rs 1,202 for a 680gm pack, but D’Souza said that’s the pricing by traders.
“Our own product pricing will be more competitive.” Harish Bijoor, founder of Harish Bijoor Consults and a former Tata Consumer executive, welcomed the launch of Eight O’clock in India.
“Coffee culture in India today is very evolved as opposed to the early days of my efforts to promote coffee in India,” said Bijoor, who, prior to setting up his own brand consultancy firm, was in charge of marketing Tata Consumer’s coffee portfolio from 1993 to 2001.
“Today, coffee is both liquid and solid in India.
The liquid that flows through our cafe chains and vending machines at offices, and the solid that moves through retail outlets as roast & ground and soluble coffees.
Indian consumers want to explore a lot more than just coffee and chicory.
And Eight O’clock offers that ‘more’,” Bijoor said.