Keurig is the leading at-home coffee competitor and this is mainly because of their revolutionary K-cup design, which were the only ones to work in their coffee maker. Now however, with the patent of these cup designs having expired 2 years ago, competitors jumped on the trend to enter the market. Keurig also recently released the Keurig 2.0 brewing system, which was only able to read K-cups to work initially. Competitors have figured out how to trick the system (for lack of a better term) and allow the machine to brew their coffee as well. The question is, can Keurig maintain its top spot with this new pressure form competitors?
Personally, I believe they can. I think Keurig maintained a monopoly on the market for so long that they have created a strong brand following and have clearly established a name for themselves. Although they cannot take legal actions, since the loophole found was a scientific one in the way the barcode on cups is read, they did acknowledge the fact that the Keurig will function best with the pods designed for it versus new improvised ones. Keurig clearly has a strong understanding of the exterior threats and weaknesses the company has yet still views them as a strengths and opportunity’s by improving upon them while still being wary to maintain market fairness (unlike Nespresso and their competitor-suppressing techniques).