Coffee sharing promos and why Heytea's pastry sold out fast

Heytea launched a one-day buy-one-get-one-free promotion for its Golden Phoenix Tea Pastry, a tea snack first released in 2024 and later sold in a boxed sharing format. Within moments of stores opening at 10 a.m., the promotional link showed sold out while the same pastry without the promo label stayed available for normal order, leaving many customers confused.

Customers had prepared to order through the mini program, which also waived delivery fees that Monday. The mismatch echoed last week's matcha buy-one-get-one offer, when several stores pulled the item due to insufficient materials. These coffee sharing-style promotions raise questions about whether inventory preparation or differing store operating strategies caused the sellout.

Heytea today launched a limited-time buy-one-get-one-free promotion for Golden Phoenix Tea Pastry, but as soon as the promotion began, a large number of consumers discovered that the promotion link showed sold out, while the non-promotion link for the same product could still be ordered normally, sparking confusion and dissatisfaction. This is not the first time Heytea has been caught in controversy over a buy-one-get-one-free promotion. Last week's matcha buy-one-get-one-free offer also led to multiple stores removing the item due to insufficient materials. Is it insufficient inventory preparation, or differences in store operating strategies? This article sorts through the course of events and the statements from all sides to get to the bottom of it.

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This morning, Heytea launched a buy-one-get-one-free promotion for Golden Phoenix Tea Pastry. It is understood that this tea snack was developed by Heytea in 2024, inspired by Golden Phoenix Tea King. It was initially launched in loose form and received a great deal of praise. Afterward, responding to consumer demand, the brand launched a boxed sharing version some time ago.

Upon learning that this popular tea snack was buy-one-get-one-free for today only, and that ordering through the mini program on Monday would also waive the delivery fee, fans who love Golden Phoenix Tea Pastry opened the official mini program in advance, planning to buy two boxes for afternoon tea. But the moment the clock passed ten and store status switched from rest to open, some customers who timed their orders precisely had not even managed to add the product to their shopping cart before inventory showed zero, making purchase impossible.

Faced with the prompt popping up on the mini program, many people initially thought they simply were not fast enough and failed to grab the limited-time offer. But later, when some checked the store menu again, they noticed that although the Golden Phoenix Tea Pastry marked "buy one get one free" showed temporarily sold out, another Golden Phoenix Tea Pastry in the list without any promotion label could still be purchased normally.

From consumers' perspective, if the store's tea pastry inventory had indeed been cleared out, then the other product link should also show sold out. However, reality was completely opposite to their expectations, leaving fans deeply confused. Judging from screenshots of the mini program posted by netizens on social platforms, consumers who encountered this situation were not few in number.

"I went to order right at ten, and the buy-one-get-one-free link showed sold out at the store, but the single-purchase link had stock," "As soon as it opened, they said inventory was insufficient and only one box was left, and I kept being unable to place an order," "I went in right on time and it was sold out," "The boxed ones were all sold out, but the loose ones were available," "The separately sold stock was there, but the promotion stock was not."

This unpleasant consumer experience reminded Heytea users of last Friday's matcha buy-one-get-one-free promotion. At that time, not long after the promotion began, many stores across the country successively removed the promotional drink due to material shortages and production capacity failing to keep up with demand. Some consumers were unable to participate in this limited-time event, nor could they buy the star-endorsed item they wanted.

Now the brand has once again launched a product buy-one-get-one-free promotion, yet failed to learn from the event just days earlier by ensuring each store had sufficient inventory before the promotion began to cope with consumers' purchasing enthusiasm. Instead, situations such as sold out immediately upon opening and chaotic store inventory displays emerged, pouring cold water on customers full of expectations.

However, some fans said, "I checked several Heytea stores near me, and the franchise stores all showed sold out right at opening (effectively not participating in the promotion), while the directly operated stores had stock prepared and you could buy freely," and guessed that the reason the buy-one-get-one-free promotion was so unsatisfactory might be related to store operating decisions.

Staff members who appeared in the comments section explained that although Golden Phoenix Tea Pastry can be stored for a long time, "basically each store only has a few dozen boxes in stock, and once people buy them they're gone in no time," and "once the goods arrive at the store they're sold out, there's simply no way to save them for buy one get one free." Therefore, promotional products were in short supply, and situations where consumers could not grab them occurred from time to time.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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