After nearly seven years in business, the tealeaves suggested the time was right for DavidsTea to update its colour palette.
The company recently revamped its “Tea Wall,” introducing a new colour palette for its approximately 150 varieties of loose-leaf tea. Stephanie Howarth, creative director for DavidsTea in Montreal, said the update is intended to make DavidsTea’s 163 stores in Canada and the U.S. more “shoppable and intuitive.”
“When we created the brand in 2008, we chose strong primary colours to offset the store’s modern, white aesthetic,” said Howarth of the update. “Those colours served us well for the first five years, but over time we felt the need for a palette that better reflected our customers’ taste.”
Developed in-house by senior designer Valentine de Leotard Picquerey, the updated colour scheme draws its inspiration from various food products including popsicles, macarons, red wine and oranges.
“We wanted the colours to reflect the fruits, flowers and spices that make up our teas,” said Howarth. “With each design choice, we asked ourselves ‘Would I want this in my kitchen?’”
The new colour palette is being applied across the company’s entire product roster, as well as other consumer touch-points including in-store, packaging and the company’s website.
It also includes the company’s newly introduced Old Timey Treats Collection, which is comprised of five limited edition iced teas inspired by malt shop treats like cotton candy and the banana split.
Howarth said the new colours are easier to work into the company’s product designs, and that the new brand colours will be more plentiful in everything from gift boxes to tea-making accessories.
The update comes as DavidsTea is in growth mode, but its store portfolio remains manageable, said Howarth. “Making such a major update on 161 stores is a challenge, but applying it to 300 stores would have been nearly impossible,” she said.
DavidsTea reported sales of $35.8 million for the 13 weeks ended May 2, a 29% increase from $27.8 million in the corresponding year earlier period. The company’s same store sales increased 6.3%. However, the company lost $93.2 million in the quarter as it absorbed the one-time costs of its June 10 IPO and was buffeted by the weaker Canadian dollar.
The company is projecting sales in the range of $170-174 million for fiscal 2015, based on opening 40 new stores and assuming a comparable sales increase in the low to mid-single digits.
The colour revamp comes amid a busy period for DavidsTea, following the April introduction of a new blog, Steep Thoughts and the launch of a line of tea-infused beauty products.
This is the first major update of the DavidsTea brand, though the company has made minor adjustments such as a new typeface and changes to its packaging standards. Howarth said the next step for the retailer is developing a secondary logo that can help customers identify the brand at any distance.
