Why does creativity coffee packaging fall short at some stores?

Guming worked with the Pan Hu Design Lab on Spring Festival limited-edition "Fortune and Prosperity Rolling In" packaging that included a rotating takeaway cup, and some customers ordered drinks just to collect it. Many found the printed snake pattern unrecognizable and the cup would not turn at all, because the spinning effect only works with a special cup sleeve that has to be assembled by staff.

Guming said busy holiday orders meant some stores skipped the sleeve, which weakened the customer experience. The response online split between people who felt the promotion never explained the sleeve's role, and those who argued stores should check that all parts of the creativity coffee packaging are complete before serving. The gap between the advertised motion and the cup in hand is what drove the complaints.

Guming teamed up with the Pan Hu Design Lab to launch Spring Festival limited-edition "Fortune and Prosperity Rolling In" themed packaging, among which a takeaway cup with a rotating interactive design attracted many consumers with its novel creativity, and some even placed orders specifically to collect this cup. However, many customers found upon receiving the actual product that the pattern on the cup body was hard to recognize as a snake shape, and rotating the cup body to the left as instructed produced no movement at all, falling far short of the dynamic effect advertised by the official promotion. Guming staff subsequently explained that the rotating effect requires a special cup sleeve to achieve, and this cup sleeve needs to be assembled; due to the busy Spring Festival orders, some stores overlooked it, greatly diminishing the customer experience. The incident sparked heated discussion online, with some arguing that the promotion did not clearly indicate the importance of the cup sleeve, while others pointed out that stores should ensure all accessories are complete before serving.

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Recently, Guming, in collaboration with the Pan Hu Design Lab, launched Spring Festival limited-edition "Fortune and Prosperity Rolling In" themed packaging materials, among which a rotatable takeaway cup attracted the attention of many consumers due to its ingenious design. Some people even placed orders specifically for a drink just to get this Spring Festival limited-edition cup.

(Image captured from the official promotional video)

However, when some customers received their drinks and carefully examined the abstract pattern printed on the cup body, they couldn't help but frown and wonder: this design doesn't look like a snake no matter how you look at it. What surprised them even more was that, following the prompt on the cup body — "rotate left here" — they gripped the cup and tried to twist it to the left, but even when the cup was nearly crushed out of shape it wouldn't budge, and naturally the pattern on the cup body did not show the snake-like slithering effect advertised by the official promotion.

They had expected that twisting the cup would reveal a miracle, but instead they received a limited-edition cup that simply wouldn't turn. Customers who had made purchases specifically for the paper cup were naturally very disappointed and couldn't help posting complaints online that the actual product was completely different from the brand's description.

Faced with customer feedback and complaints, Guming staff who rushed over upon hearing the news were caught between laughter and tears when they saw the actual product photos posted by netizens. They explained that the reason customers couldn't rotate this takeaway cup was that it was missing a cup sleeve that came with the cup. Only by putting that special "outer garment" onto the takeaway cup could one, as the official introduction described, rotate the sleeve and see a vivid white snake emerge on the cup body.

However, the limited-edition cup sleeve Guming launched this time was different from ordinary cup sleeves and required assembly before use. Therefore, many stores, after receiving the materials, organized staff to do handicrafts together in their spare time and prepared a large number of cup sleeves in advance.

But the actual situation was that the cup sleeve would cover the label sticker attached to the takeaway cup, affecting employees' drink preparation. Coupled with the surge in store orders during the Spring Festival, busy employees, while ensuring serving efficiency, were prone to oversights and forgot to put the outer shell on the prepared drinks before packaging.

To avoid missing this important accessory, staff either placed the pre-assembled cup sleeves in a prominent position at the counter, reminding customers picking up in-store to take them themselves; or, when packaging, they stuffed the unassembled packaging materials into the paper bag as well, letting customers assemble them themselves after receiving the order.

However, these remedial measures by the staff could not fully address oversights in delivery orders, and some customers still reported finding the cup sleeve — the one that could bring a bit of fun — missing after receiving their drinks.

"Bought 12 cups and 3 were missing theirs, the delivery was abnormal at first and took nearly two hours to arrive, and there wasn't a single cup sleeve," "Even the people who ordered delivery were baffled when they got it," "They didn't give me a cup sleeve, I was like what am I supposed to rotate left, rotate what," "Ordered delivery and no cup sleeve was given, I was like what is this design even doing."

It cannot be denied that Guming's rotating cup idea is indeed eye-catching and has made many users willing to pay for this interesting design. But some netizens pointed out that neither the official promotion nor the ordering platform reminded customers that the dynamic effect of the takeaway cup depends on the cup sleeve, causing some consumers to have no idea of the cup sleeve's importance.

Some customers also believed that since the limited-edition takeaway cup and cup sleeve are a set, employees should complete all accessories before letting customers pick up their orders. They said that although oversights during the busy Spring Festival holiday are understandable, the service that should be provided should still be provided. Otherwise, consumers receiving a rotating cup that doesn't live up to its name will inevitably develop dissatisfaction with the brand and its stores.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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