1. Which of the four basic targeting strategies does Numi Tea employ when reaching its markets?

Numi Tea founders, siblings Ahmed and Reem Rahim, immigrated to the United States when they were young children and grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. Reem became a biomedical engineer.

Ahmed traveled the world as a photographer and settled for a time in Prague where he opened two tea shops. Reem eventually left her career to pursue life as an artist. In 1999, the two reconnected in Oakland, California, and started Numi Tea in Reem’s apartment.

“I think in the positioning of our brand, we wanted to target a certain type of customer base, from the natural health food stores, to fine dining and hotels, to universities and coffee shops, gourmet stores,” says Ahmed. “What I’ve been most surprised about in our growth is the mass market consumer.” In recent years, demand by the average American consumer for organic and ethically produced products has exploded.

At the same time, economic influences have driven the more affluent and natural foods consumers to large discounters such as Target, supersize grocery chains, warehouse clubs, and online shopping.