How Luckin Coffee Built Its Campus Coffee Store Network

Luckin Coffee operates more than 1,000 campus stores in China, according to GeoHey brand monitoring data cited as of November 16, out of over 7,000 stores in total. Those campus outlets are concentrated in Nanjing, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Xi'an, Changsha, Hangzhou, and Beijing. Luckin began opening university locations in 2018 and had reached more than 100 universities by the September 2019 back-to-school season.

Other chains have followed. Mixue Bingcheng's Lucky Cup runs roughly 260 campus stores, while Starbucks, Tims, Manner, M Stand, and NOWWA have moved into universities too. Coffee consumption has shifted from commercial districts onto campuses, where students treat it as a daily high-frequency category, so each brand's store data and layout strategy now shape the competition.

The coffee consumption boom is spreading from commercial districts to university campuses, and college students have become an important group of high-frequency coffee consumers. Luckin Coffee enjoys a first-mover advantage with more than 1,000 campus stores, while brands such as Starbucks, Tims, Manner, M Stand, and NOWWA have also moved into universities. Mixue Bingcheng's Lucky Cup is closely following with about 260 campus stores. This article reviews each brand's layout strategy, store data, and competitive situation in universities, and includes Front Street Coffee's specialty bean information to give you a look at the real landscape of the campus coffee track.

Professional coffee knowledge exchange. For more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style).

For more specialty coffee beans, please add the private WeChat of Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee), WeChat ID: qjcoffeex

The popularity of coffee consumption continues to rise, and this trend has long since spread from off-campus to university campuses, gradually developing into a daily high-frequency food and beverage category for college students. When it comes to coffee brands on campus, the first one that comes to many people's minds is Luckin Coffee.

According to GeoHey brand monitoring data, as of November 16, Luckin had more than 7,000 stores in operation, of which about 1,000 were in campus scenarios, mainly distributed in cities such as Nanjing, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Xi'an, Changsha, Hangzhou, and Beijing.

With the rise of the new generation of consumer groups born in the 1990s and 2000s, the coffee beverage industry has entered a period of rapid growth. As a coffee brand favored by young people, Luckin began laying out university stores as early as 2018. By the September 2019 back-to-school season, Luckin's official WeChat account announced that Luckin Coffee had opened in more than 100 universities nationwide.

In September of that year, college students returning to campus after the "winter vacation plus summer vacation" extended holiday unexpectedly found that their school had "welcomed" Luckin. This was paired with the "three back-to-school gifts" campus-exclusive offers—coupons upon joining the group, 48%-off coupons, and super-value group-order coupons.

As the coffee market continues to heat up, the coffee trend has also blown from off-campus into campuses, gradually becoming one of the food and beverage choices with high-frequency consumption among college students. And when campus coffee is mentioned, many people's first reaction is Luckin Coffee.

According to GeoHey brand monitoring data, as of November 16, among Luckin's 7,000+ stores in operation, campus-scenario stores accounted for about 1,000, mainly located in Nanjing, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Xi'an, Changsha, Hangzhou, Beijing, and other places.

Today, the new generation of consumer power born in the 1990s and 2000s continues to grow, and the coffee beverage industry has also entered a stage of rapid growth. As a coffee brand much loved by young people—Luckin—it had already begun laying out university stores as early as 2018. By the September 2019 back-to-school season, Luckin's official WeChat account posted an article saying that Luckin Coffee had opened in more than 100 universities nationwide.

In September of that year, college students who had ended the once-in-a-century long holiday of "winter vacation plus summer vacation" returned to campus and suddenly found that their school had actually "welcomed" Luckin. Add to that the "three back-to-school gifts" campus-exclusive offers—coupons upon joining the group, 48%-off coupons, and super-value group-order coupons.

In addition to campus-exclusive discounts, Luckin campus stores also created exclusive campus drinks for students, covering milk series and milk tea series, such as Sam milk tea, self-study boba milk tea, dormitory coconut jelly milk tea... Through this series of actions, Luckin Coffee's campus stores quickly became popular.

In recent years, Luckin has further increased its expansion of university stores. In addition to seeing Luckin Coffee stores at many institutions such as Peking University, Renmin University of China, Fudan University, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Luckin has also deepened delivery cooperation with SF Intra-city, launching delivery services covering campus areas at more than 80 Luckin campus stores in Jiangsu-Zhejiang, Beijing, Guangdong, Shanghai, Fujian, Hubei, Henan, and other regions, and equipping some stores with "in-store riders" to ensure a first-time response to all order needs.

Although the campus beverage market has long been occupied by various milk teas and juices, with extremely fierce competition and a high elimination rate, Luckin Coffee has still successfully established itself in this red ocean. In addition to strong brand influence, stable quality, and high cost-effectiveness, there is also the speed of new product updates and iterations. In campus areas, students can not only drink mellow coffee at any time, but also be the first to check in on the brand's popular new products.

Facing the strong demand for campus coffee, many brands realized that Luckin alone could not eat up the entire market, so they entered one after another. Starbucks, also a coffee brand, has extended the "third space" to universities, becoming a holy place for students to study, read, chat, and discuss matters. Relatively niche specialty coffee brands such as Tims Coffee, Manner, M Stand, and NOWWA Coffee have also successively opened university stores.

According to Jiemian News, Tsinghua University alone has been packed with 27 coffee shops. Riding a bicycle around Tsinghua Garden, on average in less than 5 minutes, you will encounter a coffee shop. At Peking University, 8 coffee shops are scattered in every corner of Yanyuan. The earliest coffee shop starts operating at 7 a.m., and as soon as it opens, students are already waiting at the door.

As a tea beverage giant, Mixue Bingcheng naturally would not miss this market either. Earlier, it launched a new coffee brand, "Lucky Cup." Since its establishment, this brand has been regarded in people's minds as a lowest-price coffee brand, and since its founding it has been expanding crazily around universities, among 1,100+ stores, school-scenario stores account for 23.6% (about 260 stores) , almost twice that of Luckin.

As the coffee market continues to grow and expand, coffee is getting closer and closer to consumers' daily lives. And as the coffee market gradually develops from a single social scenario to an "infinite scenario" model, it means the coffee track is bound to unleash even greater potential. Of course, against this background, competition in the coffee track will also become fiercer.

In addition to campus-exclusive discounts, Luckin campus stores also provide students with exclusive campus drinks, including milk series and milk tea series, such as Sam milk tea, self-study boba milk tea, dormitory coconut jelly milk tea... This series of operations made Luckin Coffee's campus stores quickly go viral.

In recent years, Luckin has further increased its expansion layout of university stores. In addition to seeing Luckin Coffee stores at many colleges and universities such as Peking University, Renmin University of China, Fudan University, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Luckin has also further deepened delivery cooperation with SF Intra-city, launching delivery services covering campus areas at more than 80 Luckin campus stores in Jiangsu-Zhejiang, Beijing, Guangdong, Shanghai, Fujian, Hubei, Henan, and other regions, and providing some stores with "in-store riders" to respond to all order needs immediately.

Although the campus beverage market has always been occupied by various milk teas and juices, and competition is very fierce with a high elimination rate, Luckin Coffee has still successfully secured a position in this red ocean. In addition to strong brand influence, stable quality, and high cost-effectiveness, there is also the speed of new product updates and replacements. In campus areas, students can not only drink mellow coffee at any time, but also be the first to check in on the brand's hot new products.

Facing the booming demand for campus coffee, many brands saw that Luckin alone could not finish this market, and therefore entered one after another. Starbucks, also a coffee brand, has extended the "third space" to universities, becoming a holy place for students to study, read, chat, and discuss matters. Relatively niche specialty coffee brands such as Tims Coffee, Manner, M Stand, and NOWWA Coffee have also successively opened university stores.

According to Jiemian News, Tsinghua University alone has been packed with 27 coffee shops. Riding a bicycle around Tsinghua Garden, on average in less than 5 minutes, you will encounter a coffee shop. At Peking University, 8 coffee shops are scattered in every corner of Yanyuan. The earliest coffee shop starts operating at 7 a.m., and as soon as it opens, students are already waiting at the door.

As a tea beverage giant, Mixue Bingcheng naturally would not miss this market either. Earlier, it launched a new coffee brand, "Lucky Cup." Since its establishment, this brand has been regarded in people's minds as a lowest-price coffee brand, and since its founding it has been expanding crazily around universities, among 1,100+ stores, school-scenario stores account for 23.6% (about 260 stores) , almost twice that of Luckin.

As the coffee market continues to grow and expand, coffee is getting closer and closer to consumers' daily lives. And as the coffee market gradually develops from a single social scenario to an "infinite scenario" model, it means the coffee track is bound to unleash even greater potential. Of course, against this background, competition in the coffee track will also become fiercer.

Image source: Internet

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