What Does Suning's Specialty Coffee Store Offer?
Suning Xiaodian's first specialty coffee store began trial operations in Nanjing on October 10, marking the retailer's entry into convenience store coffee. The store offers 27 drinks across five categories, including coffee, tea beverages, and frozen treats, priced from 12 to 28 yuan, with classics such as Americano, latte, cappuccino, and caramel macchiato alongside fruit tea and smoothies.
Suning Coffee draws on more than 5,000 Suning Xiaodian locations and operational data within a three-kilometer radius, making it the company's fourth coffee format after machine counters, delivery, and unmanned self-service machines. Sinopec EasyJoy Coffee, by comparison, relies on over 20,000 petroleum convenience store sites. Competitors including Mengniu, Nongfu Spring, and Coca-Cola have also entered the coffee store market.
Suning Xiaodian's first specialty coffee store has begun trial operations in Nanjing, marking Suning's formal escalation of its presence in the coffee market. The store combines a "convenience store + coffee" model, offering 27 drinks across five major categories including coffee, tea beverages, and frozen treats, with prices ranging from 12 yuan to 28 yuan. Leveraging the network advantages of over 5,000 Suning Xiaodian locations nationwide and operational data within a three-kilometer radius, Suning Coffee has clear competitiveness in customer acquisition and daily operations. This is also Suning's fourth format for expanding into coffee consumption scenarios, following machine counters, express delivery, and unmanned self-service machines. As players such as Mengniu, Nongfu Spring, Coca-Cola, Sinopec EasyJoy, and OYO successively enter the fray, the battle for the coffee market has gained further uncertainty.
On October 10, Suning Xiaodian's first specialty coffee store entered the trial operation phase in Nanjing, formally ramping up its push into the coffee industry. In addition to its flagship coffee series, the store has also launched "Su Xiao Cha," "Su Xiao Shuang," "Su Xiao Pao," and "Su Xiao Bing," totaling 27 drinks across five major categories.
The previously much-watched Sinopec EasyJoy Coffee relies on more than 20,000 petroleum convenience store resources; Suning Coffee, by contrast, depends on its own network of more than 5,000 Suning Xiaodian stores. According to the "2018 China Convenience Store TOP100 List" released by the China Chain Store & Franchise Association, Sinopec EasyJoy ranked first nationwide with 27,259 stores, Suning Xiaodian ranked fourth, and the familiar 7-Eleven and FamilyMart ranked 7th and 10th respectively. As of March 2019, Suning Xiaodian had covered 71 cities in China, with a total of more than 5,000 stores. Although it was established not long ago, Suning Xiaodian has expanded very rapidly over the past year or so.
According to staff, in terms of product structure, this store includes classics such as Americano, latte, cappuccino, and caramel macchiato, while also offering recently popular new categories such as fruit tea, milk cap, sparkling water, and smoothies, with prices ranging from 12 yuan to 28 yuan. In addition to drinks, Suning Xiaodian also supplies baked goods such as soft European bread, mousse cake, and donuts.
Suning revealed that the first specialty coffee store is located on the second floor of a Suning Xiaodian store and adopts a combined "convenience store + coffee" model, mainly targeting office white-collar workers as its consumer group. In terms of decoration, the store mainly uses dark tones such as brown and gray, paired with simple, crisp straight lines and wood veneer, giving it a strong overall sense of cohesion. With the support of the original Suning Xiaodian's operational data within a three-kilometer radius and brand effect, this specialty store has greater advantages than peers in customer acquisition and daily operations.
This is not Suning's first foray into the coffee beverage sector. Last year, Suning Xiaodian's self-operated coffee was launched in more than 1,000 stores nationwide in the form of in-store counters. At that time, Suning said that its in-store self-operated coffee business window could make a fresh cup of coffee in an average of 40 seconds (most machines require 60 to 90 seconds), providing services to users around the community. Suning stated that in the future, Suning Xiaodian will focus on the development and operation of private-label goods, and while broadening multi-category SKUs, extend its traffic reach to more experiential scenarios. As an important traffic-driving product, coffee, like services such as Life Help and Suning Market, will drive associated sales through a high-cost-performance experience.
Under the market cultivation efforts of brands such as Luckin Coffee, convenience store coffee has performed particularly impressively since last year. Data shows that FamilyMart's Paike Coffee has achieved doubled sales growth for four consecutive years, with the goal of selling 100 million cups in the 2019 fiscal year.
Operational data and brand effect within a three-kilometer radius give Suning Coffee very obvious advantages in customer acquisition and daily operations. In addition to experiencing the store in person, consumers can also place orders through the mobile app or mini-program. On the online sales end, Suning Xiaodian's use of its app and mini-program also gives it advantages that should not be underestimated.
Suning stated that the Suning Xiaodian specialty coffee store is the fourth major consumption scenario for expanding into the coffee market, following machine counters, 30-minute express delivery, and unmanned self-service machines. In the future, Suning Xiaodian will focus on the development and operation of private-label goods, and while broadening multi-category SKUs, extend its traffic reach into more experiential scenarios.
At present, coffee has become a sought-after outlet and traffic entry point contested by major giants, and the entire coffee market continues to expand. Traditional beverage companies are also unwilling to fall behind: Mengniu's fresh milk brand "Daily Fresh" recently launched a cold brew coffee latte; in the first half of the year, Nongfu Spring also launched a cola coffee called "Tan Ren"; Coca-Cola, which acquired Costa last year, has recently also been rolling out cola coffee in major supermarkets; Sinopec EasyJoy Coffee has made a strong entry, and OYO also opened the first national store of its chain coffee brand "Fenran Coffee" in September this year.
Whether domestically or internationally, competition in the coffee market is becoming increasingly fierce, and the trillion-level battle has only just begun. The entry of Suning Xiaodian adds further uncertainty to this market. As fresh blood continues to pour in, various forces are engaging in competition. The business of a cup of coffee is making the market extraordinarily lively.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
