Smucker Beverages Seeks Broader Customer Appeal

CHICO, Calif.—Riding on recent rebranding efforts with its After The Fall beverage line and the expanded distribution of its all-natural drink lines, J.M. Smucker’s (SJM.A) Smucker Quality Beverages’ (SQB) current goal continues to be broader customer appeal.

Smucker, a name commonly associated with jams and jellies, is the largest provider of natural and organic beverages in the natural foods channel.

Smucker Quality Beverages (SQB), headquartered here, offers more than 300 SKUs under several brands—from natural soft drinks and organic juices to sports drinks and functional juice blends, fruit sauces, and soups. Its Santa Cruz Organic lemonade is the No. 1-selling organic juice (in volume) in the nation. R.W. Knudsen is the leading naturals brand, and Knudsen’s Recharge is the nation’s top-selling, all-natural fluid-replacement sports beverage.

Smucker doesn’t report division sales or revenue figures, but Brand Manager Shayne Law says SQB’s largest names—R.W. Knudsen Family and After The Fall—account for more than 70 percent of total sales.

SQB acquired After The Fall, an all-natural juice brand, in 1994. After The Fall was started in upstate New York in 1970 and still has a much stronger presence in the East. The brand distributes about 70 products in the eastern U.S., compared to only about 30 on the West Coast.

Pumping up West Coast distribution and sales presents an obvious opportunity for growth and is one reason for After The Fall’s May 2000 rebranding effort. A few products were eliminated, and the rebranding emphasis was on redesigning the packaging to

create a more consistent look and more shelf appeal and to create greater name retention.

The rebranding also occurred, in part, as an attempt to stave off competition from other SQB brands and from private labels, as well as to beef up sales in the mainstream channel, Law says.

“We want to appeal to the natural foods consumer with high-quality products,” Law says. “Our look is young, fun and a bit edgy. Just because you’re all-natural doesn’t mean earth tones.”

More than three-fourths of SQB’s sales are in the natural foods channel, Law says. In traditional grocery stores, SQB products are stocked in the natural foods aisles. Creating a more mainstream appeal without alienating existing customers is another opportunity for growth, Law says.

Additionally, just as the West presents an opportunity for After The Fall, the East holds promise for Santa Cruz Organics, since nearly two-thirds of all its sales occur in the West.

Organics and fortified functional juice blends also have tremendous potential, says Julia Sabin, SQB’s GM. Santa Cruz Organics’ sales have doubled since 1997. SQB’s total organic sales have increased 60 percent during the same period.

R.W. Knudsen now offers a line of organic juice, as well as functional juices and its Recharge Plus, a functional sports drink.

Acquired in June 1998, the company’s Rocket Juice brand of premium fortified juice is primarily distributed in the Bay Area, but SQB’s goal of gradually expanding its distribution has been successful, Law says.

Sabin says a large percentage

of SQB’s market consists of mothers who recognize that

juice and juice products are an excellent source of nutrition, especially for children who may resist other sources of vitamins and nutrients.

SQB’s strategy is to maintain unique brands—each with its own distinct following. Rather than try to be all things to all consumers, Smucker prefers to be many things to many consumers.

“We have a lot of beverages

and a lot of brands because we have a lot of customers,” Sabin says. “Walk down the juice aisle of any store and look at the variety of juices and beverages. The variety is tremendous because

the customers’ needs are tremendous. We try to meet those

customers’ needs.”