At this point in time, Keurig is practically a household name. As the former patent holder and original creator of the individual serving coffee pod, Keurig maintains approximately 90% of the coffee pod market within North America. However, the company’s growth may soon be halted, due to a looming lawsuit which can be read about here.
Though Keurig is facing this upcoming threat, I can’t help but wonder if the market for Keurig will really be affected. As the first company to unveil the coffee pod product, Keurig has been able to maintain the top spot within the minds of the consumers, or the highest rung of the ladder, as Ries and Trout suggest. Since Keurig is seen as the inovative, original coffee pod, it is very hard for other coffee pod companies, such as Club Coffee or Tassimo, to break into the market. The points of parity between each of these companies are vast, making Keurig the stand out first choice regardless of a possible better product with one of the other, less popular companies. However, Club Coffee, the company looking to sue Keurig, is on track to change that, sporting one extremely important point of difference that could set it far apart from any other competitor: sustainability.
Coffee pods have always seemed to be extremely wasteful to me, as the consumer is throwing out a plastic package with each cup of coffee they make, and for some people, that is multiple cups per day. In comparison to this standard model, Club Coffee’s product comes in completely compostable packaging, making for no excessive waste with each cup. And with the direction society seems to be moving, this eco-friendly point of parity could move Club Coffee directly to the top of the ladder.
All facts referenced from the above link.