PepsiCo refreshes RTD tea at Winn-Dixie

At a time when 42% of shoppers don’t know where to find ready-to-drink tea in the store, PepsiCo revamped the section at Winn Dixie/Bi-Lo stores.

“Grocery is losing the category because shoppers don’t know where to find it,” Lisa Farrell, PepsiCo’s director of sales finance and strategy, said in a Shopper Marketing Summit presentation.

Brad Mullinax, category manager, non-alcoholic beverages, Winn-Dixie/Bi-Lo.

That’s because there’s very little consistency of the RTD category location from store to store.

One of the first steps in making the section stand out was to find out what shoppers wanted in a tea section.

During shopper interviews, PepsiCo learned that the category was nostalgic for Winn-Dixie’s shoppers. Many customers remember making tea and enjoying it on the porch during family events.

“We knew we had to tie tea to the Southern culture,” Farrell said.

But insight data showed that the category was becoming commoditized and no longer connected with many shoppers.

So PepsiCo decided to turn things around.

Under a collaborative program with Winn-Dixie and Shoptology, a shopper-marketing agency, it devised a reorganization plan for the entire category.

Among other moves, energy drinks were removed from the RTD section.

“Energy drinks took away from the tea drinking experience,” Farrell said.

Additionally, premium teas were moved forward, and the category was grouped with signage designating if the tea was “diet” “unsweetened” or “flavored.”

New nostalgic signage — reading “Life is Sweet on the Porch” — was added.

“The aisle imagery connected with shoppers from a cultural perspective,” noted Brad Mullinax, category manager, non-alcoholic beverages, Winn-Dixie/Bi-Lo.

The reconfigured test section led to a 17% category sales lift.

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