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Easter may be long gone, but the Jelly Belly Candy Company is still producing jelly beans, 300,000 pounds a day.
The Jelly Belly innovation was to add flavors to the inside. An anomaly in the stagnant $29.1 billion candy industry, the company, based in Fairfield, Calif., continues to grow and increase market share, with sales up 25 percent since 2006. Jelly Belly’s success, industry experts say, is because of wider availability and global expansion. And, according to candy connoisseurs, it just makes a better bean.
“All you have to do is look at them, and they are brighter, shinier and prettier,” said Sarah Gencarelli, a candy reviewer for CandyAddict.com, a blog about sweets. With unusual and, in her opinion, superior flavors like buttered popcorn, kiwi, margarita and cappuccino, she said, “Jelly Belly has this artisanal niche.”
Unlike traditional jelly beans that have only flavored shells, the Jelly Belly innovation was to flavor the chewy insides as well. Jelly Belly beans are also smaller and come in 50 flavors using real ingredients like fruit, peanut butter and coconut, not, industry consultants said, the six or seven usually artificial and often unidentifiable flavors available in regular jelly beans.
With sales expected to reach $200 million by the year 2010, there's a lesson to be learnt here for all entrepreneurs who are struggling to increase their bottom line in competitive niches.
As Raplh Waldo Emerson said - "Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your doorstep". You would think that the simple jelly bean doesn't leave much room for change or innovation, but Jelly Belly has proven that simple changes CAN make a world of difference - and your bottom line a whole lot sweeter.
Perhaps it's time to take a second look at your product and think out of the box?
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