- Reuters -
Asian expansion for Swiss Nespresso that has just opened two stores in China.Nestle Nespresso SA, the premium coffee-capsule business of Swiss food giant Nestle Group , has opened its first two stores in China as part of planned global expansion, its China spokeswoman said.
Nespresso opened the stores in Beijing and the southwestern city of Chengdu on Wednesday, Nancy He said, adding that it planned to set up an outlet in Shanghai and add another one in Beijing this year.
Nespresso Chief Executive Gerhard Berssenbruegge told Reuters in an interview last month the company may bring its sales targets forward by one year as turnover surges and it expands into fast-growing emerging markets.
Berssenbruegge said Nespresso's business model applied worldwide and that the group had a "master plan" to tap fast-growing markets for coffee capsules such as North America and selected developing countries.
In a statement emailed to Reuters on Thursday, Nespresso said the company planned to boost the number of its stores worldwide to 120 by the end of this year from 79 in 2006.
Nestle Group has been selling coffee through retailers in China for 20 years. It also sells tea beverages, energy drinks and dairy products in the world's fourth-largest economy.
China's coffee consumption could grow to 250,000 to 300,000 tonnes per year within 10 to 15 years as disposable incomes in the world's most populous nation rise, said Andrea Illy, chairman of one of Italy's top three roasters, illycaffe, earlier this month.
That would compare with industry estimates of 2006 demand at 45,000 tonnes in the traditionally tea drinking society.