Why did Gucci team up with arabica coffee brands?

After handing out free coffee from an Ancora-red truck in Beijing and Shanghai drew complaints about long queues, limited supply, and taste, Gucci changed approach. The luxury brand partnered with three coffee names at once, including %Arabica, opening week-long pop-up shops in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Chengdu. The triple limits of store, duration, and product drew crowds and check-ins.

The earlier truck was meant to introduce the Ancora collection to younger consumers but left some visitors disappointed. The pop-up model lets Gucci work alongside established arabica coffee brands, and observers now ask whether the company is testing partners for a longer-term coffee project or simply funneling traffic to the Ancora exhibition. A permanent arabica first store has not been announced.

Luxury brand Gucci has recently been making frequent moves in the coffee world. First, it attracted attention by handing out free coffee from an Ancora-red coffee truck in Beijing, Shanghai, and other cities, but it drew complaints over long queues, limited supply, and controversial taste. Gucci then adjusted its strategy, teaming up with three well-known domestic coffee brands at once—Grid Coffee, Blue Bottle Coffee, and %Arabica—to open week-long pop-up coffee shops in four cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Chengdu. This collaboration model, with its triple limits of "store, duration, and product," has drawn consumers to queue up and check in, and has also led people to speculate whether Gucci is "casting a wide net" to screen for a long-term partner, or merely funneling traffic to the Ancora series exhibition. This article takes you through this cross-industry experiment between luxury and coffee.

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Everyone is surely familiar with the brand Gucci. It is world-renowned for products such as fashion, leather goods, and perfume. At last year's Milan Fashion Week, the Gucci Ancora fashion show shone brightly, and that striking Ancora red quickly swept through the fashion world, with the Ancora series products subsequently launched also attracting a great deal of attention.

To help Chinese consumers gain a deeper understanding of the Ancora series, Gucci thought of coffee, which young people love today, and set up a coffee truck in business districts with Gucci stores in Beijing, Shanghai, and other cities, handing out free coffee to passersby to attract attention.

The Ancora-red coffee truck did bring Gucci a wave of traffic, and many netizens made special trips to the scene to take photos as a memento. At the same time, however, some netizens complained that the queue was too long just to get a cup of coffee, and because of the limited supply, some people who made a special trip came away empty-handed and never got to drink Gucci coffee. In addition, some netizens said Gucci coffee's taste was not as good as expected, "it's just that the cup looks nice," leaving consumers who came because of its reputation disappointed.

After this attempt, Gucci also realized that although it is a luxury brand from Italy, its professional capabilities in the coffee field are indeed limited. So yesterday, Gucci joined forces with three quite well-known domestic coffee brands all at once—Grid Coffee, Blue Bottle Coffee, and %Arabica—to simultaneously open week-long pop-up coffee shops in four locations: Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Chengdu.

It is understood that consumers can buy Gucci coffee at four limited-edition pop-up stores: Grid Coffee at Beijing Sanlitun, Blue Bottle Coffee Zhangyuan store in Shanghai, %Arabica at Shenzhen MixC, and %Arabica at Chengdu Taikoo Li. The triple limits of store, duration, and product create a "miss it and it's gone" atmosphere, so much so that consumers, afraid of missing out on this limited-edition coffee, rushed to line up and buy as soon as the event launched.

From this perspective, things you are not good at should still be left to professionals. After Gucci handed the coffee part over to coffee brands, it instead won praise from quite a few consumers. But the limited-edition drinks launched by the three coffee brands are all different, making many consumers "eat from their own bowl while eyeing the pot," and feel regret over not being able to taste the drinks at other stores.

However, some netizens also noticed that this time Gucci's "private-label coffee" was handled by three coffee brands, unlike past collaboration models in which luxury brands partnered with only one coffee brand. Therefore, they speculate that Gucci is "casting a wide net," first collaborating with three coffee brands and then deciding on one long-term partner based on factors such as sales.

But some netizens believe these three coffee brands and Gucci may collaborate only this once, because the pop-up stores opened through Gucci's co-branded collaboration are all not far from the Ancora series exhibition venues, and consumers buying coffee might be drawn by the conspicuous exhibition hall, go inside to visit, and learn about the Ancora series.

In recent years, luxury consumption has been sluggish. To attract the attention of young consumer groups, Gucci has made breakthroughs in design and also combined coffee, which young people love, with its own brand, successfully grabbing young people's attention. But whether it can use this wave of popularity to convert coffee consumers into luxury consumers still needs time to verify.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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