Thomas Lipton and the Lipton brand have a very special place in the history of tea. Thomas Lipton, who brought tea, whose history goes back to 2700 BC, to daily consumption, became one of the most important names in the development of tea sales and marketing techniques.
Thomas Lipton was born in 1848 as the fifth child of an Irish grocer. His father, Thomas, and his mother, Frances, had immigrated from Ireland to Glasgow and began to engage in trade. Growing businesses in Glasgow's Gorbals area, the Lipton family told their children about their experiences and wanted them to grow the business. Thanks to his trading skills, Thomas Lipton took over the business. At the age of 40, he managed to become rich by transforming the grocery store he inherited from his father into a large grocery chain. In order to expand the business, he thought the tea trade would be the right venture.
In the 19th century, tea was a status symbol peculiar to the English aristocracy. Among the products sold in Lipton Market, tea was a consumer item for the aristocratic class. As the middle class got stronger with the industrial revolution in England, the interest in tea started to increase. Especially in Glasgow, the middle class had a stronger growth momentum. In such an environment, Thomas Lipton considered cutting out the brokers to reduce the cost of tea. If he could bring the tea from the Far East instead of buying it from the brokers, the cost of tea could be reduced. In this way, tea could be sold in accordance with the purchasing power of the people. This increased demand for tea would have increased the profit from the sale. In line with this idea, Thomas Lipton succeeded in bringing 20,000 chests of tea to Glasgow in 1889.
In the second half of the 19th century, the price of tea in England averaged around £50. Moreover, the quality was quite low. Considering that the weekly income of a working family was around 8-10 pounds, the daily consumption of tea was a great luxury for the working families. Whereas Thomas Lipton calculated that if he cut the brokers out of the way, the tea could go down to £30 a kilo. The 20,000 chests of tea he brought to the city of Glasgow in 1889 ignited many changes in the market. First of all, the increasing amount of tea in the city caused tea prices to fall. Advertising and marketing activities started in order to present tea to wider masses.
20,000 boxes of tea brought to Glasgow by Thomas Lipton were celebrated in the city for 6 days with a team of special harmonica and piper players. Turning the bringing of tea into the city into a feast was a marketing strategy devised by Thomas Lipton. In this way, tea was advertised and the public's interest in tea was increased. During the activities that lasted for 6 days, 800 cows were milked. The world's largest cheese was prepared by about 200 masters. A special coin was even minted to commemorate the day. These studies, organized by Thomas Lipton, were recorded as the first advertising and marketing activities of the tea industry.
Lipton teas were both cheaper and more delicious than the teas consumed until that day. Thomas Lipton, who made tea prices fall, also led to the start of competition in the tea market. Tea traders, who wanted to eliminate brokers like him and buy tea directly, soon began to rival Lipton in the tea market. According to Thomas Lipton, the only way to get ahead in this competition was not only to import tea but also to produce it. For this purpose, he went to Ceylon, which is now known as Sri Lanka. He established his own tea plantation on the 2,000-hectare land he bought. Thanks to this development, Thomas Lipton gained a competitive advantage in the tea industry.
In the 19th century, Ceylon was witnessing very important changes in the field of agriculture. Ceylon was actually one of the world's largest coffee producers until the 1860s. But a fungus species that became widespread in Ceylon made coffee production quite difficult. In turn, he had prepared ideal conditions for tea plantations. In the central part of Ceylon, Thomas Lipton purchased 2,000 hectares of land qualified to grow good quality tea. He had previously worked on a tobacco plantation in Virginia. He had learned the tricks of establishing and managing a good plantation. While in the United States, he also worked as an accountant on a rice plantation in South Carolina.
The quality of the tea produced on Lipton's tea plantations in Ceylon was highly appreciated in British society. Because these teas had a softer drink. Until that day, the British had to use milk to consume the tea they brought from the Far East. Because the taste of the tea was so bitter that it prevented its consumption. However, Lipton teas made the consumption of milk with tea unnecessary. Moreover, tea brought from different regions was mixed through brokers, making standardization of tea quality impossible. Lipton teas, on the other hand, retained the same flavor quality.
Thomas Lipton's tea marketing strategy focused on two points. The first of these was the emphasis that Lipton teas were brought "directly" from Ceylon. As a matter of fact, this emphasis was intended to show that the low price of tea does not mean that it is of poor quality. On the contrary, the idea that the tea brought "directly" was of higher quality and taste was brought to the society. The second point was that the golden yellow color was chosen especially in the advertisements. Thanks to this color, Thomas Lipton made the English middle class who consumed Lipton teas feel special in the face of the aristocracy.
One of the innovations that Thomas Lipton brought to the tea industry was the tea bag. The idea of brewing tea with a bag actually came about as a result of coincidence. American merchant Thomas Sullivan used to send samples of tea to private customers in small silk bags. Customers who were still unfamiliar with tea consumption thought they had to brew tea with these bags and swung these bags in hot water. Thomas Lipton turned this coincidence into a new product type and started selling tea bags.
The invention of tea bags not only made it possible to sell tea in lower quantities than boxes or boxes, but also facilitated its consumption. It had become extremely easy to brew tea with tea bags. After putting the tea bag in a glass and pouring hot water on it, it was enough to immerse the tea in water 8-10 times and remove it. With his newspaper advertisements and advertisements, Thomas Lipton explained to consumers how to brew tea bags. Along with the tea bags, the daily consumption of tea reached a much higher level and the price of tea continued to decrease. Over time, various flavors and herbal teas and fruit teas were added to the tea bags.
Thomas Lipton died on 2 October 1931 in London. The sale of Lipton teas has spread to more than 150 countries over time. As such, the difficulty of maintaining company management could only be overcome with the emergence of multinational companies. The Lipton brand was acquired by the world-famous food and cleaning company Unilever in the 2000s. Increasing its product range day by day, Lipton teas manages to maintain its leading position in the sector today.