Why Do Starbucks Cups Outperform Its Coffee Release Pace?

Starbucks releases far fewer new coffee drinks than new cups. The chain's China unit launches roughly 30-plus new coffee products a year, while its themed and collaboration cups arrive in dozens of designs annually, and the profits from drinkware may already exceed those from coffee itself.

The pattern shows in consumer behavior: a thirty-plus yuan drink gives some buyers pause, yet a cup priced at one or two hundred yuan, or more than four hundred yuan, still sells. The 2019 cat paw cup sold out in 0.07 seconds after launch, prompting overnight queues and resale interest.

Starbucks has always presented itself as a coffee shop, but an interesting phenomenon is that the pace of new coffee drink launches is far slower than the rhythm of new cup releases. Coffee costing thirty or forty yuan a cup makes some consumers hesitate, while Starbucks cups priced at one or two hundred, or even four or five hundred yuan, are bought without hesitation by some. Every year, dozens of themed limited-edition cups and collaboration styles take the stage in turn, and the profits from selling cups may already exceed those from coffee itself. From the 2019 cat paw cup that triggered overnight queues and sold out 0.07 seconds after launch, to young people relying on switching cups to maintain their enthusiasm for drinking water, Starbucks' performance in the drinkware lane can be called phenomenal. At the same time, Starbucks China launches only about 30-plus new coffee products a year, while Luckin launched 113 drinks in 2021 alone. This article helps you see clearly the essence of Starbucks as a "cup factory," and also talks about Front Street Coffee's commitment to beans and products.

When people mention the name Starbucks, most think of a chain coffee shop. Yet intriguingly, when it comes to launching new products, the update frequency of Starbucks coffee drinks lags far behind the iteration speed of its cups. Compared with drinking Starbucks coffee, some customers clearly favor the merchandise Starbucks releases. Rather than defining Starbucks as a coffee shop, it would be better to call it a factory that sells cups.

A cup of Starbucks coffee often costs thirty-plus yuan, and many consumers say the price is too high and hard to consume daily. But switch to a Starbucks cup priced at one or two hundred yuan, and many people instead find it a bargain; even styles costing more than four hundred yuan can be purchased decisively. Starbucks launches dozens of coffee cups each year covering dozens of themes, with all kinds of limited editions and collaboration items emerging endlessly, and the profits earned from selling cups are probably already more than those from selling coffee.

Contemporary office workers' diets and routines are not healthy enough, bringing various sub-health troubles. Water is the source of life, but even when unbearably thirsty, some people still tough it out and refuse to drink. To force themselves to drink more water, some people who dislike drinking water start racking their brains over cups. Where there is demand, there is naturally a market, so many merchants have set their sights on the cup business.

Among the many cup brands, Contigo, Thermos, S'well, Kor and Starbucks are recognized as the five major well-known brands. Among the many cup brands pursuing a "minimalist" route, Starbucks successfully broke through with its flashy and varied designs.

Among Starbucks' flashy cups, the cat paw cup that debuted in 2019 stands out especially. Some people pitched tents outside stores and queued all night for it; some got into fights with complete strangers over a cup; on Tmall it sold out just 0.07 seconds after launch. Searches for "Starbucks cat paw cup" on Taobao soared 12,000%, and a cup originally priced at no more than one hundred yuan was hyped to 2,500 yuan. Even a cat would probably shake its head at that.

Every time Starbucks releases new cups, a large number of young people are willing to empty their wallets and go on a crazy buying spree; Starbucks partners, facing this new "salary recovery plan," also generously open their purses.

The cost of young people drinking water is getting higher and higher. Water itself may not be expensive, but cups absolutely cannot lose at the starting line. It seems as if as long as we have a good-looking cup, we can drink several times more water than usual.

However, liking the new and tiring of the old is one of human nature. If you want to maintain enthusiasm for drinking water all the time, you have to switch to a new cup every once in a while.

When you get a new cup, as the senses receive external information, new and old objects stimulate the brain to different degrees, and hormone secretion in the body changes accordingly, showing different levels of excitement. Repeated stimulation from the same cup gradually lowers the brain's excitement until it disappears or even turns into boredom. Then one day, Starbucks releases another good-looking new cup, so you splurge again.

China's coffee market is growing rapidly, but Starbucks China's coffee product launch pace is very slow, releasing only about 30-plus new products a year. Not long ago, the "Iced Shaken Espresso" series regarded as a new product in the Chinese market had actually long existed in European and American coffee circles under the name "Caffe'Shakerato." By contrast, Luckin Coffee launched as many as 113 new drink products in 2021 alone.

You may not know that Starbucks has released a beer-flavored latte, but you cannot possibly not know that Starbucks has released a cherry blossom series of cups.

Looking at cups like these, would you not be tempted? You might even drink two extra sips of water.

If you value the quality of the beans themselves more when drinking coffee, Front Street Coffee has always insisted on selecting freshly roasted coffee beans for everyone, so that every cup of coffee is worth taking seriously.

Image source: Internet

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