Local coffee brands rely on innovation to break the game

Reporter Wang Jinchen

Nowadays, with the improvement of consumption level and the popularization of coffee culture, coffee has gradually moved from elite to people-friendly and popular, which has also spawned the rapid development of the coffee industry, and China's coffee track is also heating up
.
Data show that at present, there are about 300 million coffee consumers in China, but the total consumption of coffee and per capita consumption are far lower than the level
of foreign consumption.
It is predicted that China's coffee market will grow at a compound growth rate of nearly 26%, and the market size will reach 180.
6 billion yuan
in 2023.
Coffee has thus become a "good business" in the eyes of entrepreneurs and capital, and a group of entrepreneurs have poured into the coffee track, making the coffee industry shine vigorously in
China's market.

100 billion yuan market size

Local brands are expanding rapidly

According to Tianyancha data, the annual registration of coffee-related enterprises in China has continued to grow in recent years, and more than 60% of coffee-related enterprises have been established within
5 years.
At present, there are about 170,000 coffee-related enterprises in China, of which more than 23,000 were newly registered last year, and the growth rate of newly registered enterprises reached 18.
9%; There were nearly 30 investment and financing events in the coffee industry, with an overall financing amount of more than 17 billion yuan
.

In this process, many domestic coffee brands emerged, such as Luckin Coffee, whose store size has surpassed Starbucks, as well as Manner, M Stand, Seesaw, T97, Yongpu Coffee, Santon, Sumida River, etc.
, local brands ushered in a period of rapid expansion, and Chinese people also have more coffee consumption choices
.

At the same time, the promising coffee industry has also attracted many enterprises to cross-border layout
.
According to Tianyan inspection data, tea brands such as Heytea, Naixue's tea, and tea Yanyueshi, well-known enterprises such as China Post and Li Ning have sold coffee across borders, and Huawei, NIO, etc.
have also applied for coffee trademarks
before.
It can be said that the competition in the coffee market is also becoming more and more fierce
.

As an imported product, the domestic market has been occupied
by mainstream foreign-funded enterprises such as Starbucks and Nestle for a long time.
But with the intensive birth and expansion of local coffee brands, they also got a piece of
the coffee market.
For example, in last year's domestic coffee bean market, domestic brands accounted for more than half for the first time, with a five-year compound growth rate of 34%, which was 1.
6 times that of international brands, and Santon, Sumida River, Yongpu, etc.
entered the top ten
in coffee and related product sales.

Innovate brand marketing strategies

Capture the minds of consumers

As a consumer product, the rise of local coffee brands is inseparable from their innovative branding and marketing strategies
.
At present, the main consumption force of the coffee market is still the Y generation composed of the post-80s and post-90s, but the Z generation of the post-00s has become "accustomed to nature" coffee, and the awareness and enthusiasm for coffee have reached a higher level, but have not yet formed a "strong market cognition", and many coffee brands regard them as the core consumer group
.

Therefore, for coffee brands, a single, non-selling product will be difficult to meet the needs of this group of young consumers, and it is necessary to innovate and create a creative, boutique and personalized product brand
.
It can be seen that freshly ground coffee is no longer the traditional four old ways of American, latte, mocha and cappuccino, but upgraded to a creative drink with coconut milk, oat milk, osmanthus syrup, etc.
as additives, or incorporating cucumbers, strawberries, white peaches and other fruits, which also reflects the general trend
of diversification of the coffee market.

In the fierce market competition, young consumers often have clearer consumption propositions, so how coffee brands accurately grasp the demands of consumers and occupy consumers' minds has become an important factor
that major coffee companies must consider when shaping their brands.

T97 Coffee, which was only established in April last year, creates differentiation by focusing on "low-calorie coffee" to meet the needs of users for weight loss
.
The creative design of freeze-dried coffee powder and mini cup launched in three and a half meals has made it quickly out of the circle in the coffee industry, and its continuous improvement of the high-quality instant coffee can meet more tastes of consumers and ensure the market freshness
of its own brand.

In addition to making efforts in product brands, local coffee companies are also full of tricks in marketing, through live broadcasting, co-branded cross-border, content cooperation, IP creation and other colorful innovative marketing methods, expand the boundaries of brand stories, achieve brand out of the circle, so as to reach more users, and even integrate into user life scenes, meet more emotional and social needs of users, and enhance user stickiness
.

T97 Coffee is a brand that has recently relied on Douyin live broadcast to get out of the circle, and the IP anchor "Big Mouth Girl" created by T97 Coffee has achieved a breakthrough
of brand "from 0 to 1" online with the help of unique appearance and magic microphone to attract brand traffic.
Yongpu Coffee has established its own IP "Shi Duanzheng", the guardian saint of Chinese elements, Shi Lion, who is cute and has a sense of justice, and at the same time interprets the brand value
of "doing good products and people".
If you grasp the preferences of consumers in the Z generation, you can achieve a double breakthrough
in traffic and sales.

In addition, exploring online and offline "global integration" is also a major trend in the development of local coffee brands, and new scenarios and channels such as e-commerce retail, takeaway, and in-store pick-up have emerged, and brand new retail genes are prominent
.
With e-commerce as the main channel, Santong shows the brand's concept and values through offline concept stores, so that users can feel and touch
.
T97 Coffee quickly deployed offline stores after coming out of the online circle, and opened the expansion of third- and fourth-tier cities, intending to transform the potential of online brand traffic from marketing to product-driven and let users pay
.

With the continuous growth and expansion of China's coffee market, major coffee brands need to continue to innovate, through accurate brand building, unique marketing methods into the hearts of consumers, in order to win the favor
of more users in the increasingly fierce market competition.

China Food News (December 12, 2022, Version 07).

(Responsible editor: Luo Chen)