Starbucks chief Howard Schultz announced that he was stepping down as CEO of the company, effective April 2017. Schultz plans on staying on board as executive chairman, turning the CEO reins over to Starbucks President and COO Kevin Johnson.

Schultz’s remarks about his departure mostly focused on his view that the “US was over-retailed” and that to survive and succeed, retailers would need to change their physical presences into “premiumized, experiential consumer venues.” To this end, Schultz said that he would focus his attention on Starbucks reimagining of retail – the Starbucks Roastery and Reserve brands. Schultz said that the company’s Seattle Roastery has become a laboratory for “breakthrough innovation and experiential design” that will lead to the next generation of Starbucks stores.

Lost in this news are the incredible inroads that Starbucks has made in sales away from its stores, notes market research publisher Packaged Facts, which will release brand new reports on the coffee and tea industries within the next week, including the joint title Coffee and Tea: US Retail Market Trends. View Packaged Facts’ collection of coffee and tea themed market research reports at: http://www.packagedfacts.com/coffee-tea-market-c471/.

The company said that its consumer packaged goods (CPG) growth has been very strong. This has been achieved in the following ways:

· Starbucks has been the number one K-Cup brand for the 5th consecutive quarter.

· Starbucks roast and ground coffee has been the top premium coffee brand, outpacing growth in the overall segment.

· Overall, it ranks as the number two coffee brand.

· The Starbucks ready-to-drink offerings such as Double Shot, Frappuccino and Chilled Multi-Serve, through its partnership with PepsiCo, are the leaders in ready-to-drink coffee.

· 80% of US coffee occasions happen outside of coffee shops

· Starbucks has more than 500 Signature Aisles across grocery stores across the country

· The company also has new CPG offerings in China, Latin America and Europe.