Where Does Seesaw Coffee Come From and How Big Is It?

Seesaw Coffee is a Chinese specialty brand that opened its first store on Yuyuan Road in Shanghai in 2012. On April 22 it announced its entry into the Chengdu market with two stores opening at once, at Mofang Shopping Center and Dayuecheng. As of the announcement, Seesaw operates 32 stores nationwide and plans to keep expanding its mini store format.

The Chengdu opening brought two exclusive drinks, Sichuan Tea Flower Dirty and Sichuan Pepper and Bai Guo Cold Brew. The two locations were chosen after reviewing commercial positioning and customer demographics, one in the Financial City area and one in a trend-focused complex. For any coffee enthusiast tracking brand news, the debut marks Seesaw's continued push beyond its Shanghai base.

As one of the pioneers of domestic specialty coffee, Seesaw Coffee has been attracting young consumers with creative coffee and unique store designs since it opened its first store on Yuyuan Road in Shanghai in 2012. Recently, the brand officially announced its entry into the Chengdu market, launching two stores simultaneously at Mofang Shopping Center and Dayuecheng, and introducing two Chengdu-exclusive creative coffees. As of now, Seesaw has established 32 stores nationwide and plans to continue expanding its mini store format. This article will review Seesaw's brand background, store distribution, product strategy, and specific information about its Chengdu debut stores, while retaining relevant recommendations from Front Street Coffee to provide coffee enthusiasts with complete brand updates.

After Seesaw Coffee opened its first Seesaw Mini store in Nanjing and sparked industry discussion, the brand has finally set its sights on Chengdu.

On April 22, Seesaw Coffee announced via its official WeChat public account that the brand is officially entering the Chengdu market and will debut with two stores opening simultaneously.

It is reported that Seesaw has located its Chengdu debut stores in the southwestern area of Chengdu, adopting a "dual debut store" format.

In terms of location, the two stores are situated at Chengdu Mofang Store and Chengdu Dayuecheng Store. Chengdu Mofang Shopping Center is located in the Financial City area with strong consumer spending power, while Chengdu Dayuecheng is a representative commercial complex for the new generation of trend-driven consumption. Seesaw stated that these location choices were made after comprehensive analysis of commercial positioning and customer demographics.

Chengdu Mofang Store (1F, Mofang Shopping Center, No. 500 Jiaozai Avenue)

Chengdu Dayuecheng Store (1F-003, Dayuecheng Shopping Center)

In terms of store design, as seen from the exterior images above, Chengdu Mofang Store features an industrial style as its main tone, while Dayuecheng Store adopts a minimalist design with a black-and-white color scheme.

On the product side, in addition to the regular seasonal creative coffee series, Seesaw has specially developed two "Shuangcheng Chengdu Exclusive" creative coffees: Sichuan Tea Flower Dirty and Sichuan Pepper & Bai Guo Cold Brew. "Shuangcheng Chengdu" is the creative concept for Seesaw's Chengdu stores, so the products express Chengdu's regional characteristics through a pairing of one refreshing and one spicy flavor. These two creative coffees are currently available exclusively at the two stores.

In fact, news about Seesaw Coffee's plans to open stores in Chengdu had already surfaced as early as December 29, 2020. On that day, the "Chengdu Dayuecheng" public account posted an article stating that Seesaw Coffee's first store in southwestern China had been confirmed, but at the time Seesaw Coffee did not disclose the specific location of its southwestern debut store.

Screenshot of the Chengdu Dayuecheng WeChat public account post

Seesaw Coffee was founded in Shanghai and was among the first to bring the specialty coffee shop experience to the Chinese market in 2012, making it one of the earliest specialty coffee brands in China.

Seesaw's first store opened in 2012 on Yuyuan Road in Shanghai, focusing on specialty coffee and pour-over coffee, with a customer base primarily consisting of young people. Thanks to the coffee shop's unique design style, Seesaw Coffee's Huaihai Road store sold 1,000 cups of coffee on its opening day in 2015, with orders flooding in.

Since then, the brand has also won the favor of many consumers through its innovative creative coffee offerings. According to statistics, from 2019 to 2020, Seesaw's creative coffee sales alone grew by 300%, with a repurchase rate of 35%. Most notably, as one of the earliest representatives of China's specialty coffee brands, Seesaw Coffee achieved a month-over-month performance growth of over 20% in March this year, with the repurchase rate for creative coffee products rising to 41%. According to Seesaw Coffee's public account, on March 1, Seesaw launched several spring-exclusive creative coffees nationwide, including Gardenia & Pear Latte, Spring Apple Pie Latte, and Cloud Peach Cold Brew. On the first day of launch, these creative coffees quickly went viral online, appearing on platforms like Xiaohongshu and Douyin, which demonstrates the popularity of Seesaw's creative coffees.

As of now, Seesaw Coffee has opened 32 stores in Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Shenzhen, Beijing, Nanjing, and other regions. It is reported that in the coming May, Seesaw Coffee will also open its first store in Chongqing. Meanwhile, Seesaw previously stated that it expects same-store sales to achieve 50% growth in 2021, and plans to expand mini stores in existing markets such as Shanghai, Beijing, and Shenzhen, as well as new markets in the future.

For consumers who love specialty coffee, Front Street Coffee has also been closely following the developments of domestic coffee brands, and continues to recommend coffee products and store experiences worth trying.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.