After giant enterprises such as PetroChina, Sinopec, China Post and Tongrentang sell coffee across borders, will the well-known sports brand Li Ning also start selling coffee? On May 11, the reporter learned through China Trademark network that Li Ning Sports (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Li Ning") is applying for the registration of the trademark of "Ning coffee". In some Li Ning stores in Beijing, Guangdong and Xiamen, consumers can get a cup of "Ning coffee" free of charge after arbitrary consumption.
Li Ning company responded: "we hope to improve the comfort and experience of customers when shopping by optimizing the in store service. Providing coffee service in the store will be an innovative attempt of Li Ning for the retail terminal consumption experience. As for when the store officially sells coffee, no more information can be disclosed."
Li Xinyi, an analyst of Analysys brand retail industry, said in an interview with the reporter of Securities Daily: "Coffee has become one of the important lifestyles of young people. Li Ning's cross-border selling of coffee is more about the integration of the coffee industry and the existing sports retail industry, so as to create a more complex store experience, so that Li Ning stores gradually evolve from a simple retail space to a lifestyle experience space. It is intended to improve the user experience and strengthen its national trend attribute, not to compete with professional coffee brands. Li Ning coffee has a high probability of not being alone The retail format established in Li Ning operates independently. "
Zhu danpeng, an analyst of China's food industry, told the Securities Daily: "the upgrading of traditional enterprises' own business service system, the enhancement of users' stickiness and the increase of new profit points are the key to giant enterprises."
Who can win the trillion yuan track
As an emerging industry, China's coffee market is still in a relatively early stage, with high growth potential in total sales and per capita coffee consumption.
According to AI media consulting, the scale of China's coffee market will be about 381.7 billion yuan in 2021, which is expected to maintain a growth rate of 27.2%, and the scale of China's coffee market will reach 1 trillion yuan in 2025.
In fact, the rapid rise of the coffee market has made traditional industry giants unable to sit still. PetroChina, Sinopec, China Post and Tongrentang have made cross-border layout one after another. In 2018, PetroChina established "Kunlun hospitality coffee" and quietly sold freshly ground coffee in its Kunlun hospitality convenience store. In 2019, Sinopec Yijie convenience store with nearly 30000 stores released a new brand "Yijie coffee". On February 14, 2022, the first coffee shop directly operated by China Post, post office coffee, was officially opened in Xiamen.
Now, Li Ning is also selling coffee. The reporter learned from tianyancha app that on April 15, Li Ning applied for the registration of the trademark of "Ning coffee", which is internationally classified as catering and accommodation. The current trademark status is waiting for substantive review. For Li Ning's selling coffee, netizens have exploded: "capital really likes to play sidelines", "competitors in the coffee industry have never been peers", "the coffee market has begun to roll up", "support Guochao brands"
Referring to the phenomenon of traditional industry giants crossing the coffee track one after another, Jiang Han, a senior researcher of Pangu think tank, told the Securities Daily: "coffee has become the key to attracting traffic in offline scenes. Whether it's post offices, bookstores or gas stations, they have figured out a problem. Coffee is just an introduction to better attract users' consumption, so they should play cross-border."
"There is no doubt about the potential of the domestic coffee market. At present, the coffee industry has four pillars: convenience store coffee represented by convenience bee and 7-11, Ruixing, manner coffee and catering stores (such as McCafe) Cheap coffee represented by seesaw and M stand, and old brand medium and high-end chain coffee represented by Starbucks and Costa. Although many industrial giants intend to take a share of the cross-border "robbery", freshly ground coffee has a lot of tests on the supply chain and store operation, and the brand specializing in making coffee is more likely to win. " Li Xinyi told the reporter of Securities Daily.
How did the coffee industry evolve
Li Ning's 2021 annual report shows that by the end of 2021, Li Ning had 7137 stores, and once fully launched, there were more than 7000 coffee shops. In contrast, coffee giant Starbucks has 5360 stores in China and Ruixing has more than 5500 stores.
How will the pattern of the coffee industry evolve under the competition of various players and the fighting between old and new forces? Can Ning coffee break through the siege?
In this regard, Zhu danpeng told the reporter of Securities Daily: "The brand positioning of cross-border coffee making by traditional industry giants is different from that of professional coffee making. Traditional industry giants have the advantages of network channel resources, store cost and flow, but they lack innate coffee genes, so it is difficult to say whether they can really polish their products. Generally speaking, there are opportunities for cross-border coffee selling by traditional industry giants, but compared with professional coffee brands, the opportunities are not great."
Wang Peng, an associate professor of Renmin University of China, said in an interview with the Securities Daily: "Li Ning's cross-border selling of coffee does not rely on coffee taste, price and environment, but more on the reputation influence of supply chain and sports brands. China post is also making coffee across borders. Its core advantage lies in its many business outlets and its own logistics system, which are differentiation advantages."
"Li Ning coffee is actually a guest brand. It has a large number of distribution networks, supply systems and stores. In the future, it can be combined with the Internet, digital technology and digital media to create more popular models, especially those with a certain personality and can highlight the national trend and cultural and creative elements, and even integrate with the blind box, script killing, original universe, etc. enthusiastically pursued by young people. From these aspects, Li Ning's coffee road may change in the future Play more new tricks. " Wang Peng added.