Is Starbucks Specialty Coffee or a Mooncake Sales Channel?

As the Mid-Autumn Festival approaches, Starbucks employees face annual mooncake sales targets. Posts on the topic have exceeded 1.33 million on one social platform, with staff offering fire-sale prices and gift package deals to meet quotas. Unsold boxes must be absorbed by stores, and part-time student workers are also assigned to promote sales, though the company denies forcing purchases.

The mooncakes draw criticism for taste and price but have shipped for 24 consecutive years, serving brand exposure and localization goals. Store managers face pressure from district managers when targets are missed, and employees report being scolded for selling nothing. The episode raises a broader question about whether Starbucks specialty coffee positioning carries into its seasonal merchandise.

As the Mid-Autumn Festival approaches, Starbucks employees are once again facing the ordeal of selling mooncakes. On social media, there are over 1.33 million posts on related topics, with employees complaining about the pressure and even willing to sell at "fire-sale prices." Starbucks sets sales targets for its stores every year, and unsold items must be absorbed by the staff themselves, with even part-time student workers being assigned to promote sales. Although the company officially denies forcing purchases, the layers of pressure from within are an undeniable fact. The mooncakes are criticized for their poor taste and high prices, yet they have been launched for 24 consecutive years, aiming to boost brand exposure and localization. In the highly competitive mooncake market, if Starbucks mooncakes do not change, they may become another nightmare for employees next year.

As the Mid-Autumn Festival approaches, Starbucks employees are once again anxious about their mooncake sales tasks. On a certain social platform, the number of posts on the topic of "Starbucks mooncakes can't be sold" has exceeded 1.33 million.

Most of these posts come from Starbucks employees, who complain about the difficulty of selling mooncakes, the immense pressure they are under, and seek sales methods. Many even propose "fire-sale prices," "rock-bottom prices," and "gift package deals," hoping netizens can help them meet their KPIs.

It is said that the annual mooncake sales are described as "one of the nightmares for Starbucks employees." According to employees, the brand launches new mooncakes every year, and from the pre-sale period, the company assigns gift box sales targets to each store. If they cannot be met, the store manager and employees must handle them themselves. Some netizens mentioned that certain stores even assign part-time student workers to promote mooncakes.

"The staff are under a lot of pressure; everyone has a task of dozens of boxes," a netizen said. Their nephew works at Starbucks and was scolded by the store manager for not selling a single box of mooncakes, so the family had to help buy a few boxes. The store manager scolded the employee because, if the store fails to meet the target, the manager would be criticized by the district manager.

According to media reports, in late July last year, Starbucks was exposed for making employees pay out of pocket to buy mooncakes to boost performance. On the first day of the product launch, each store had to sell 25 boxes, and if they couldn't, they had to make up the difference themselves. Although Starbucks officially quickly denied it, saying it was only an individual store's behavior and was immediately stopped, the situation of层层加码 within the brand and forced sales by grassroots employees does exist.

It is puzzling that a major reason for Starbucks mooncakes' poor sales is their widely recognized bad taste. On social media, complaints about Starbucks mooncakes are everywhere, and even fans agree: "Really, don't make them anymore. I've never eaten such terrible mooncakes, indescribable," "If you hate someone and have to buy them something, buy Starbucks mooncakes or zongzi," "Not tasty, the three boxes I bought last year almost made me die on the spot."

Starbucks mooncakes are not making their debut in the Chinese market, and their gift boxes are not hard to sell for the first year. Why does Starbucks insist on launching these mooncakes, which netizens criticize year after year as "expensive and unpalatable," for 24 consecutive years in the Chinese market?

First, Starbucks believes that traditional festival foods like mooncakes can not only help increase brand exposure but also, through innovative flavors, allow the brand to complete localization in the Chinese consumer market, integrating specialty foods into products to enhance consumer acceptance. In this regard, the hot sales of Chinese-style products launched by another international food giant, KFC, in China, such as Old Beijing Chicken Rolls and breakfast porridge, are evident.

Second, Starbucks' brand status remains, and it is still a mid-to-high-end brand with high recognition in the domestic consumer market. You know, giving mooncakes during festivals also has a hierarchy of disdain. Once upon a time, in public relations activities and company employee benefits, if Starbucks mooncakes were given, one would surely earn the reputation of "amazing partner" or "amazing company." In terms of brand premium, Starbucks still has its halo.

Under various factors, whether it tastes good may not really be the direction Starbucks mooncakes strive for. After all, in the past, decent gift boxes with a logo like Starbucks were still presentable holiday gifts. However, in today's fiercely competitive mooncake industry, where even companies like Hermès and Louis Vuitton are跨界 entering the mooncake market, Starbucks mooncakes, which meet neither the conditions of being both cheap and good, if they do not make a certain degree of change to get consumers to buy, then next year's mooncake season might become a new round of "nightmares" for employees, don't you think?

According to Starbucks employees, although the total price of this year's mooncake gift boxes has been reduced at launch, the overall price is still high, with an average price of 57 yuan per piece. Some employees, in order to complete sales tasks, sell them individually by breaking open the boxes.

Image source: Internet

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