At the recent launch of the Jura GIGA 6 fully automatic coffee machine, Appliance Retailer sat down with Jura global CEO, Emanuel Probst to discuss the key global trends driving consistent strong growth in the fully automatic market and what we can expect from Jura in the years ahead.
“We estimate the global coffee machine market to be around 40 million units with single serve machines taking the biggest share in unit terms, followed by fully automatic coffee machines then manual machines. However, in value terms, it is a relatively even split between single serve and fully automatic machines,” he said.
“30 years ago, the global coffee market was predominantly portafilter for espresso drinkers, alongside drip filter and instant coffee. Today, fully automatic machines are growing year-on-year with Germany the biggest market worldwide and Russia the second biggest, followed by other European markets, including Switzerland, Austria, France and Poland. The US is experiencing slower growth as there are fewer players in the coffee market, but Jura is a dominant force in the fully automatic segment. Nonetheless, it is a growth story for coffee worldwide.
“We expect further growth in the fully automatic segment for the years ahead – it is a global phenomenon. We are seeing a lot of consumers trading up from single serve machines to fully automatic machines because they want freedom of choice, they can create milk specialties with ease, and they want to be more environmentally friendly.
“We also expect Artificial Intelligence (AI) and personalisation to grow as a major trend – today we are only just at the beginning. There are still massive developments to come. This year, we will be introducing our Jura Operating Experience (J.O.E.) app 3.0 and new updates will become available each year.
“With the J.O.E. app, consumers have a personalised dashboard in their pockets to customise their coffee as they like it. With Jura Live, consumers have access to live support, and we will continue to evolve our point of sale because at the same time, we need a strong physical presence – you can do a lot digitally, but not everything.
“It is all about competence. If you just put a coffee machine on a shelf, you are not competent. With competence you gain confidence among consumers to purchase the product and that’s what counts at the end of the day – we want to sell machines.”