The market has been abuzz for a while about Nestle brewing up plans to bring into the country its Nespresso machines aimed at the home segment. But home grown Coffee Day has pipped the Swiss MNC to the post.
On Thursday, at the India International Coffee Festival in Delhi, Coffee Day unveiled its WakeCup range of home coffee machines, priced at a competitive Rs 3,999, that dispense the brew in 30 seconds.
“It's the first time anybody is offering home coffee machines at this price point in India,” said K. Ramakrishnan, President, Marketing, Café Coffee Day. It will be available in the market in about 3-4 months time, he said, and sold exclusively through the CCD cafes to start with.
The CCD outlets will also supply the capsules (which contain roasted powder) for the machine priced at Rs 10 for a single serve.
Price
At present, most coffee machines for the home segment in the market are priced upwards of Rs 10,000.
Miele India, the German luxury appliances company, even retails high end Nespresso machines (costing over Rs 2.2 lakh) at its retail centres.
Mr Dhananjay Chaturvedi, Country Head, Miele, feels the Indian consumer is quite ready for the mass market coffee machine at home experience.
He says two types of people have been buying high-end coffee machines from the Miele stores: one, those who are passionately fond of coffee and two, those who like to keep up with trends and think that a coffee machine is a necessary accessory to have in the modern kitchen.
Coffee Day, which was an early mover in the US style modern coffee café segment in India, says it now sees huge potential for growth in the in-home segment, given that per capita consumption of coffee in India is barely 82 gms (in the south it is 403 gms).
It is 4 kg in the US and nearly 10 kg in some European countries.
Nestle's plans
Meanwhile, as Nestle keeps mum on its plans, retail sources say that the Swiss company could well be launching its Nespresso range by 2013. And bring in the whole works — boutiques, capsules and so on.