Green Mountain Hopes to Double DM Sales

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc., a specialty coffee marketer, has selected BrandBuzz as its agency of record, with the goal, in part, of doubling its direct marketing revenue to roughly $30 million next year.

“It’s a large business for us,” said T. J. Whalen, vice president of marketing for the Waterbury, VT company, of the DM channel.

BrandBuzz, a division of Young & Rubicam Brands, will create a communications strategy and develop programs based on customer relationship management, interactive media and viral marketing.

Meanwhile, Green Mountain has reported a 17.5% increase in its fiscal 2004 net sales to $161.5 million. Net income totaled $9 million, a 14.5% increase over the prior year. The fiscal year ended on Sept. 24.

Contributing to these results was a 60% hike in direct marketing sales, and a 44% increase in the firm’s office coffee service business. The DM hike was due, in part, to sales of Keurig Single-Cup Brewers for the home and the launch of a new Web site.

Green Mountain sends out millions of catalogs per year and does “a significant portion online,” said Whalen.

The firm’s largest channel, convenience stores, generated a 13.3% sales increase during the final quarter. But the supermarket channel suffered a 2.6% decline in pounds shipped. This, the firm believes was due to increased promotion by competitors and the effect of price increases by Green Mountain earlier this year.

Overall fourth-quarter sales rose by 14.6% to $36.4 million. Net income hit $2.4 million, compared with $2 million during the same period last year.