Why the Luckin Coffee Demon Slayer tie-in stalled on shelves

Luckin Coffee released a Demon Slayer collaboration with takeout cups, paper bags, cup sleeves, stickers, acrylic standees and fridge magnets. The merchandise did not sell as expected and stayed on shelves. Fans cited high set meal prices, especially a 229-yuan eight-drink set, and noted that the artwork reused previously released official images rather than offering anything new. Staff had prepared by memorising character names and posting cheat sheets in stores.

The weak response contrasts with Luckin's earlier tie-in campaigns, which drew long queues and rapid sell-outs. The gap has prompted discussion about collaboration strategy and fan consumer psychology: anime audiences compare set pricing against what the merchandise actually contains, and repeated artwork weakens the pull of a licensed character. Luckin has not reported how much of the remaining stock it plans to clear.

Luckin Coffee recently announced a collaboration with the popular Japanese anime "Demon Slayer," launching a series of themed merchandise, including takeout cups, paper bags, cup sleeves, stickers, acrylic standees, and fridge magnets. However, after the campaign launched, the merchandise did not sell as well as expected and instead ended up sitting on shelves. Fans widely complained that the set meal prices were too high, especially the 229-yuan eight-drink set, which deterred many. In addition, some loyal fans pointed out that the merchandise artwork used previously released official images, lacking novelty. Front Street Coffee noted that the market response to this collaboration stood in sharp contrast to Luckin's previous tie-in campaigns, sparking discussions about brand collaboration strategies and fan consumer psychology.

▲

Click to follow | Daily specialty coffee culture magazine Coffee Workshop

Recently, Luckin Coffee officially announced on multiple platforms a collaboration with the highly popular Japanese anime "Demon Slayer," and the news quickly drew a great deal of attention from fans.

With its unique worldview, distinctive characters, and thrilling battle scenes, "Demon Slayer" has won the favor of many anime enthusiasts and become one of the widely praised Japanese anime works at home and abroad in recent years. Therefore, when Luckin announced the collaboration with the series, fans were naturally full of anticipation.

Judging from the official promotional posters, in addition to the usual "collaboration trio"—takeout cups, paper bags, and cup sleeves—Luckin also launched stickers, acrylic standees, fridge magnets, and other merchandise. In terms of design, there were both individual character versions and group portraits of the full cast, aiming to satisfy the preferences of different anime fans.

Because this collaboration involved many types and styles of merchandise, and to avoid being unable to fulfill orders according to customers' requests, most Luckin staff prepared in advance, memorizing the names and appearance features of each character, and even posting self-made cheat sheets inside the bar area—showing great care.

However, after the collaboration launched, the receipt printers in stores did not continuously spit out orders as usual. The merchandise that Luckin employees had originally expected to sell out within a day still had considerable stock. Faced with boxes of perfectly packaged themed merchandise in the warehouse, Luckin employees could not help but feel puzzled: "This is the first time I've seen Luckin merchandise not sell, what's the reason," "No one bought much for two days, expectations were high, but the result is worse than Honor of Kings."

Faced with the questions from Luckin employees, many fans left comments in response: "Can't rush it, it's too expensive," "It's at the level where even leeks for collaborations can't rush it," "There's no way to drink eight cups all at once."

Luckin's mini-program shows that the designated collaboration set meals for this campaign varied in price, including single-cup sets for a little over ten yuan and an eight-drink set priced at 229 yuan. Different priced sets corresponded to different styles of merchandise, meaning that if merch collectors wanted to complete the full collaboration set as before, they would need to spend at least over 300 yuan while also drinking more than a dozen cups of drinks that might not suit their taste.

This situation surprised anime fans who had been full of anticipation. In their view, most of Luckin's previously launched collaboration set meals were priced in the 30 to 40 yuan range, and merch collectors could complete the full set by spending just over 100 yuan on one or two set meals. Therefore, after comparison, many netizens said bluntly that the brand's pricing for the designated set meals exceeded their psychological expectations, and the themed merchandise bundled with multiple drinks turned off many users who had no milk tea companions.

In addition, loyal fans also pointed out that the product artwork chosen by the brand this time was actually old artwork that the anime's official side had already used for merchandise. For longtime fans, Luckin's themed merchandise lacked novelty in design and was hard to attract anime fans to pay for it: "With this money, why not buy merch and watch the movie," "This money might as well go directly to watching the movie, and you can still get exquisite materials."

Image source: Xiaohongshu

Disclaimer: Some images in this article are from the internet, and some content on the website, such as images, we will respect the original copyright and indicate the source. However, due to the large quantity, there may be individual images or texts that have not yet been credited. Please understand. If the original author has any disputes, they may contact the website for handling. Once verified, we will correct it immediately. Compiled and edited by "Coffee Workshop." Please indicate the source when reposting. If there is infringement, please inform us for deletion. Thank you ~ !

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