What the HARMAY coffee counter means for long black drinkers

HARMAY, a high-end domestic beauty collective, opened a 700-square-meter, four-story flagship store on Wukang Road in Shanghai on September 30. The ground floor holds an open Marienbad coffee counter at the entrance, serving five beverage categories plus one snack. Coffee options are a Long Black and a Coffee Latte, both priced at 28 yuan.

Chocolate and draft beer, stout and wheat, are also 28 yuan, while sparkling or still water runs 45 yuan per bottle. Marienbad now has two sites, the Wukang Road counter and the Xintiandi store. The earlier Anfu Road shop, open since 2017, has closed and its site becomes the national flagship of the hand-shaken lemon tea brand introlemons. HARMAY has 8 stores and plans Xi'an and Wuhan.

HARMAY, a high-end domestic beauty collective, has once again taken a cross-industry step by opening a 700-square-meter, four-story flagship store on Wukang Road in Shanghai. The first floor features a Marienbad coffee counter serving black coffee, milk coffee, chocolate, draft beer, and other beverages. Meanwhile, the first store on Anfu Road, which opened in 2017, has closed, and the original site will be transformed into the national flagship store of its hand-shaken lemon tea brand, introlemons. HARMAY had previously sought to acquire a coffee brand and may further expand into a coffee chain in the future. As of now, HARMAY has 8 stores nationwide and plans to expand to Xi'an, Wuhan, and other cities. Whether cross-industry ventures can bring long-term value to the brand still needs to be tested by the market.

Another brand has taken a cross-industry step into coffee.

On September 30, the local high-end beauty retail collective "HARMAY" officially launched a large flagship store.

The flagship store is located on Wukang Road in Shanghai, conveniently facing the first store that "HARMAY" opened on Anfu Road in 2017 across the street.

The entire building has four floors, with a total operating area of 700 square meters.

In terms of spatial design, the overall style follows an "industrial" route, incorporating elements such as the red bricks unique to Shanghai's red-brick houses and retaining exposed concrete walls and other details.

What is clearly different from the layout of previous stores is that the first floor of this flagship store has been turned into an open area, with a dedicated "coffee counter" at the entrance.

This "coffee counter" continues to use the "Marienbad" brand name.

In terms of beverages, it offers a total of 5 categories and 1 snack.

The beverages include two types of coffee—Long Black and Coffee Latte, priced at 28 yuan; in addition, there are chocolate, draft beer (including stout and wheat beer), drinking water (sparkling and still, brand antipodes), and hot dog snacks.

In terms of price, Long Black, Coffee Latte, chocolate, and draft beer are all 28 yuan, while sparkling or still drinking water is 45 yuan per bottle.

The aforementioned Marienbad coffee currently has two stores, located respectively at the Wukang Road store (the site of the HARMAY flagship store) and the Marienbad Xintiandi store.

For the HARMAY brand, this is not its first time entertaining the idea of entering the new coffee business format.

According to "Bright Company," an investor revealed: HARMAY had previously started looking for opportunities to invest in or acquire a coffee brand, and in the future it does not rule out opening more coffee stores to build Marienbad into its own coffee chain brand.

It is worth noting that while the HARMAY flagship store opened its doors to customers, the first offline warehouse-style store that HARMAY opened on Anfu Road in Shanghai in 2017 was also announced to be closed during the same period.

Interestingly, however, although this store has ceased operations, HARMAY co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Zhong Taipeng has no intention of giving up the space. Instead, he plans to sell hand-shaken lemon tea there.

In 2020, HARMAY invested in and founded the hand-shaken lemon tea chain brand introlemons and opened its first store in Beijing. HARMAY also plans to transform the former HARMAY Anfu Road store into introlemons' national flagship store within 2021.

According to media reports, the location of the former HARMAY Anfu Road store (about 250 square meters) will host a lemon tea brand under HARMAY called "introlemons Forgiveness Lemon."

Public information shows that "HARMAY," which started as a Taobao store in 2008, opened its first offline warehouse-style store on Anfu Road in Shanghai in 2017. As of now, "HARMAY" has 8 offline stores, distributed in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Hong Kong, and other places, selling categories covering skincare, color cosmetics, fragrance, and more. HARMAY stated that it will continue to open stores in Xi'an, Wuhan, and other cities in the future.

Overall, whether HARMAY introduces the coffee category or the lemon tea category, an in-depth analysis of this issue actually confirms a saying circulating in the industry: cross-industry approaches differ, but the essence of cross-industry is ultimately marketing.

For HARMAY, adding new categories helps enhance fan loyalty and attract more user traffic.

But for any brand, in this era where everything can become an internet celebrity, the internet celebrity economy can only bring short-term benefits. Truly transforming from an "internet celebrity" into a "long-lasting hit" is the foundation for a brand's long-term development.

And "turning internet celebrity into long-lasting popularity" clearly cannot be achieved by means such as "cross-industry innovation and partnering with new friends" alone. More critical is finding one's own positioning after becoming popular, continuing to innovate, forming a "brand power" recognized by the market, and achieving "long-lasting popularity" in order to go further on this track.

Finally.

As for whether the internet-famous beauty store "HARMAY" can usher in new development changes by crossing into the tea beverage market, leave the answer to time. After all, today's market development is changing rapidly.

*Image source for this article: HARMAY, internet

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