How does the Mixue Bingcheng Japan expansion shift coffee beverage development?
Mixue Bingcheng has confirmed its first Japanese store will open in the Omotesando area of Tokyo, following its debut in South Korea. The chain has already moved through Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, and its overseas store count has passed one thousand. No opening date has been announced yet.
The brand's low-price model carries over: its signature lemonade sells for roughly 10 yuan in South Korea, where nearby bubble tea shops have closed. The Japanese account says it is the only official channel and will not proactively release franchising or recruitment news. The push adds pressure across the wider coffee beverage development landscape in Asia.
Chinese freshly-made beverage giant Mixue Bingcheng is accelerating its overseas expansion. After opening its first store in South Korea, its first Japanese store has now been confirmed for Omotesando in Tokyo. Starting from Hanoi, Vietnam, then expanding to Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, and now to the Japanese and South Korean markets, Mixue Bingcheng's overseas stores have surpassed one thousand. Its signature lemonade is priced at about 10 yuan in South Korea, and it continues to win over local consumers with its affordable approach, even leading to neighboring bubble tea shops closing down. This article reviews Mixue Bingcheng's overseas expansion path and the current state of Asia's new-style tea beverage market, while also following the development trends of specialty coffee brands such as Front Street Coffee.
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Not long ago, Chinese new tea beverage chain giant Mixue Bingcheng opened its first store in South Korea, and now it has set its sights on the Japanese market. According to China Drinks Express, Mixue Bingcheng has already taken substantive action to enter Japan, and the location of its first store has been decided.
It is reported that a social platform account using Mixue Bingcheng's Snow King avatar and named "MIXUE.Japan" posted a "late-night preview," revealing that Japan's first Mixue Bingcheng store will be located in the Omotesando area of Tokyo. The account stated that it is the only official channel for Mixue Bingcheng in Japan and emphasized that Mixue Bingcheng Japan will not proactively release information related to franchising or recruitment. As of press time, the opening date of the Japanese store has not yet been announced.
Mixue Bingcheng has long established a massive network in Southeast Asia, but had previously never entered Japan. After news of this entry spread, it quickly sparked heated discussions among netizens, with many expressing strong anticipation.
In addition, judging from the preview image posted by the account, Snow King also made some adjustments to blend in with local customs — wearing a Japanese hachimaki on its head. This long, thin cotton strip is commonly seen at Japanese celebratory events and carries the meaning of boosting morale. It is not hard to see that Mixue Bingcheng is equally full of fighting spirit when it comes to overseas expansion.
It is worth noting that Japan is not the first stop for Mixue Bingcheng's overseas expansion. As early as four years ago, the brand had already begun frequently expanding into overseas markets. In 2018, Mixue Bingcheng opened its first overseas store under the English name "MIXUE" in Hanoi, Vietnam. According to media reports, this store often reached full daily sales, with daily sales of nearly 1,400 cups. After that, Mixue Bingcheng extended its reach to Indonesia.
In December 2021, Mixue Bingcheng entered Malaysia; in February 2022, it began laying out in Singapore. As of June this year, the total number of Mixue Bingcheng overseas stores has surpassed 1,000.
In fact, in the prospectus pre-disclosed in September, Mixue Bingcheng had already clearly stated that it would open up the Japanese and South Korean markets. In mid-to-late last month, the brand entered South Korea, with a store opened near Chung-Ang University, but there is still no news of an actual store opening in the Japanese market. According to posts by Chinese students in South Korea checking in, Mixue Bingcheng's signature "lemonade" is priced at 2,000 won in South Korea, about 10 yuan, which, although slightly higher than domestic pricing, is already an affordable price compared with local South Korean milk tea brands.
Many netizens posted on social platforms, saying: "Mixue Bingcheng is too crowded, it seems to have taken away business from the shop next door." Others said: "As soon as Mixue Bingcheng opened in South Korea, the bubble tea shop next door closed directly." This shows that Snow King's overseas expansion has also won the favor of overseas consumers.
Mixue Bingcheng is the freshly-made beverage chain enterprise with the largest number of stores, the largest scale, and the strongest brand influence in China. Public data shows that its total number of stores has reached 22,276. The brand has always adopted a model of "direct-operated chain stores as the guide and franchise chain stores as the main body," and owns the freshly-made tea beverage brand "Mixue Bingcheng," the freshly ground coffee brand "Lucky Cup," and the freshly made ice cream brand "Jilatu."
As the domestic market scale continues to expand, before reaching the ceiling of the domestic market, founder Zhang Hongfu had already planned ahead and led Mixue Bingcheng to go abroad.
Image source: Internet
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
