What Did Luckin Coffee Release in Its Latest Launch?

Luckin Coffee released six new drinks in a single day. Four are city-exclusive: Mango Jasmine Rinna Ice, Water Lily Velvet Latte, Gardenia Pear Latte and Kunlun Snow Latte, tied to Fuzhou, Xiamen, Wuxi and Hefei. Only the Slack Off Coconut Latte, an Iced Coconut Latte with 0-fat konjac crystal balls, went on sale nationwide.

The nationwide drink drew criticism as an old recipe in new packaging, but its slacking-off theme resonated with office workers and spread across social platforms. Customers outside the four cities complained they could not try the exclusives. Luckin has accelerated new releases since 2020, betting that catching young consumers matters more than product novelty in a homogenized market.

Luckin Coffee once again demonstrated its astonishing speed of launching new products, releasing six new items in a single day, four of which are city-exclusive, with only the Slack Off Coconut Latte available nationwide. This new product, which adds 0-fat konjac crystal balls to the Iced Coconut Latte, has been criticized as old wine in new bottles, yet its catchy name and "slacking off" theme precisely hit the emotions of office workers, sparking widespread discussion on social platforms. Netizens outside the designated cities complained about being unable to try it, while Luckin's strategy of riding on internet buzzwords once again proved its dual prowess in product innovation and topic creation. Since 2020, Luckin's pace of new releases has continued to accelerate. In the face of homogenized competition in coffee and tea drinks, whoever can accurately grasp young consumers will seize market opportunities.

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Early this morning, many netizens were surprised to find upon opening their phones that Luckin had launched six new products at the same time. Such a pace of new releases makes one wonder if Luckin's R&D team ever runs out of inspiration.

Image source: Fallen Rain

The six drinks launched this time include: Slack Off Coconut Latte, Mango Jasmine Rinna Ice, Water Lily Velvet Latte, Gardenia Pear Latte, Kunlun Snow Latte, and Full Branch Locust Flower Latte. Upon closer inspection, one will notice that the latter four are actually city-exclusive products, corresponding to Fuzhou, Xiamen, Wuxi, and Hefei respectively. Among all the new products, only the Slack Off Coconut Latte will be sold in stores nationwide.

This arrangement led consumers outside the designated cities to express dissatisfaction and joke about it on social platforms. "Why is there no store-exclusive in my area," "My heart is half cold," "Can only slack off." As a result, "slacking off" has become the way netizens taste Luckin today.

According to Luckin Coffee's official WeChat push notification, today's "Slack Off Coconut Latte" is essentially the Iced Coconut Latte with added "0-fat konjac crystal balls." From a flavor perspective, there is not much breakthrough; it can be said to be "old wine in new bottles." Some netizens commented that this is a veritable "slacker product."

Although the ingredient combination lacks novelty, the playful name alone is enough to strike a chord with Monday office workers. The slogan "Who understands the joy of slacking off" vividly depicts the current "not doing proper work" state of office workers.

Many netizens who got up early to grind opened the app and saw Luckin's new product, expressing strong resonance. "I'm just saying, is Luckin secretly acting out my life," "Luckin, you understand new product development," "You understand office work," "Slackers drink Slack Off Latte."

Luckin's expertise in playing with memes is hardly news, but being able to cleverly borrow the internet buzzword "slacking off" in such a short time and "ride" it into a new gimmick, attracting a large number of young people to actively participate in spreading the marketing topic—Luckin's move can be said to be a direct win without effort.

In 2020, Luckin launched 77 new freshly made drinks for the entire year; in 2021, it launched 113 new products; in 2022, Luckin launched nearly 140 new products, far exceeding other coffee and tea brands. Entering 2023, judging by this pace of new releases, it is believed that Luckin's total number of new products this year will continue to reach new breakthroughs.

Nowadays, it is increasingly difficult for coffee and tea products to stand out. Major brands are striving to seize every opportunity to gather consumer attention at important marketing moments. Whoever can successfully grasp contemporary young people is the winner.

So, did you slack off today?

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