Starbucks Has a Pumpkin Spice Latte Problem in China
www.nytimes.com
For years, Starbucks was the dominant coffee chain in China. Now rivals offering local flavors and cheaper prices are crushing the company’s bottom line in its second-largest market.

Good article from the New York Times.

Summary

Starbucks China is losing customers at a very rapid pace. Starbucks corporate executives are angry. Brian Niccol, the new $100 million CEO of Starbucks, sounded the alarm in October, calling the competition “extreme”. For the Chinese Lunar year, Starbucks released a pork flavor latte. It cost more than $9 and was widely seen as a disaster.

Billionaire Howard Schultz, Starbucks’s former CEO, insisted that Starbucks would not enter a price war in China. He claimed “as chinese customers become more knowledgeable about coffee, they will want to upgrade from lower-end or discounted products”

  • spuninh@feddit.org
    11·
    16 days ago

    To be fair “luckin” and “coti” coffee is genuinely leagues ahead in taste, and not more expensive than Starbucks, so I guess it was coming sooner or later

    • atthecoast@feddit.nl
      11·
      16 days ago

      I don’t agree, they’re mostly fine (Luckin better than Cotti), but Starbucks flavor is stronger and more “dark roast”. Also, their Shanghai coffee roasters facility is in a league of its own!

      Having said that. China’s economy is not doing well and consumers are looking to cut back on expenses. I guess Luckin is the “good enough” option?