Why did Luckin Coffee stores struggle during the Christmas promotion?

Luckin Coffee's limited-time Christmas perk, a co-branded sticker with any single drink purchase, triggered a nationwide order surge. Label machines printed endless strips, drink stickers and giveaway stickers became mixed and hard to distinguish, and two new Christmas drinks with nearly identical recipes launched at the same time, leaving baristas overwhelmed.

The promotion changed the previous practice of requiring two drinks for one co-branded sticker, and fans responded by spreading the news, bringing a wave of orders to stores across the country. New product launches already tend to slam stores on day one, so adding the sticker offer on top left frontline employees describing the day as a Christmas calamity.

Christmas has just come to an end. While most consumers are still basking in the warm holiday atmosphere, Luckin Coffee's frontline employees have experienced what can only be described as a veritable "Christmas calamity." The brand's limited-time Christmas perk—receive a co-branded sticker with any drink purchase—was originally meant as a goodwill gesture to reward customers, but unexpectedly triggered a massive order surge across stores nationwide. Label machines kept spitting out endless strips of labels, drink stickers and giveaway stickers became hopelessly mixed up and hard to distinguish, and on top of that, two new Christmas drinks with nearly identical recipes launched simultaneously, leaving already busy baristas overwhelmed. What kind of chain reaction did this 24-hour holiday promotion actually bring to store operations? This article will recount the real experiences of Luckin's workers on this particular Christmas.

▲

Click to follow | Daily specialty coffee culture magazine Coffee Workshop

The Christmas that just passed was a warm and wonderful memory for many, but for Luckin Coffee's frontline employees, while others were celebrating Christmas yesterday, they were enduring a true "Christmas calamity."

It's already commonplace for Luckin to get slammed with orders on the first day of a new product launch, and store partners have long since grown used to it. However, when you add on top of that a promotion where "any drink purchase earns you a co-branded sticker," then no matter how mentally prepared Luckin employees may be, facing the surging wave of orders, they'll most likely still break down in an instant.

Yesterday, coinciding with a new product launch, Luckin broke from its previous practice of "buy two drinks to get one co-branded sticker" and introduced a limited-time Christmas perk: "any single drink earns you one co-branded sticker." Fans who had struggled with not being able to drink two cups at once were overjoyed upon hearing the news, spreading the word to one another and bringing this wave of perk frenzy to Luckin stores across the country.

And so, just as dawn was breaking and before they were even fully awake, Luckin employees heard the ceaseless chime of new order notifications, while before their eyes the label machine endlessly spat out label paper. Pulling one out to look, they were instantly jolted awake, unable to help but cry for help! Why was it that among these long strips of labels stretching from one end of the bar to the other, there were labels that were completely useless?

Due to the label printing system's settings, if an order contains a giveaway, the label machine will print an additional giveaway sticker. So after the order surge, those long label strips contained not only the labels that needed to be stuck on takeaway cups to distinguish drinks, but also utterly useless, purely wasteful giveaway labels. The two types of labels mixed together left Luckin employees dazzled and confused.

"Time to test your eyesight," "I've lost my mind," "I want to die—this one-cup-one-sticker thing really makes a difference," "Tell me about it—picking drinks out of stickers," "My eyes are practically glued to the cup stickers just to see."

It was supposed to be a joyous holiday, but these label strips that could wrap around the bar once truly left Luckin employees unable to feel happy. They either nearly collapsed from exhaustion inside the bar or simply broke down completely—the holiday joy was utterly gone.

Besides the torment of painstakingly distinguishing between drink stickers and giveaway stickers, Luckin employees also wanted to ask their own product R&D department: the newly launched Christmas Sweetheart Latte and Christmas Canelé Latte not only have extremely similar names, but their recipes are almost identical too—did they think the label sticker ordeal wasn't driving them crazy enough, so they just had to add more difficulty to the job?

It's understood that the main differences between these two Christmas drinks are: first, different names; second, different syrups and garnishes added. As a result, many Luckin employees frequently made mistakes during preparation—adding the wrong syrup, using the wrong garnish, making a cold drink as a hot one, and so on. Their work, already frantic because of the labels, gained new chaos, pushing these poor colleagues to their absolute limits.

Fortunately, this Christmas "calamity" lasted only 24 hours. Once the time passed, as if they were Cinderella losing her magic, Luckin employees "whoosh"—instantly transformed from Christmas "victims" back into ordinary workers~ Except what this holiday left them with may not be fond memories, but rather both physical and mental exhaustion.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

Disclaimer: Some images in this article are from the internet. For some content on the website, such as images, we will respect the original copyright and indicate the source. However, due to the large volume, there may be individual images or texts that we haven't had time to credit. Please forgive us. If the original author has any disputes, they can contact the website for handling. Once verified, we will immediately correct it. Compiled and edited by "Coffee Workshop." Please indicate the source when reposting. If there is any infringement, please inform us for removal. Thank you~!

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