Channel Check: RTD Tea

Lots of shakeup here in the tea category as AriZona and Lipton’s core brands seem to have cooled a bit while Lipton’s PureLeaf is soaking up share. Even the vaunted Arnold Palmer has begun to slow, with small declines registering for the first time. Is it just a seasonal issue? Or are Pepsi’s and Coke’s (FUZE is on fire) value-priced offerings finally starting to make inroads as the category levels off? Value pricing is helping Tradewinds, which continues to grow via NWNA distribution – but one other newcomer to the group is Marley’s Mellow Mood, which is showing $14 million in tracked channels – not bad at all for a brand that does a lot of its work up and down the street. Could this be the Wal-Mart effect?