Why did Li Ning “do not do business”?coffeeshop?
Previously, the Tianyancha App showed that Li Ning Sports (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. applied for the registration of the “Ning Coffee NING COFFEE” trademark, which is internationally classified as catering and accommodation. The cross-border sale of coffee by the shoe and apparel giant has aroused public curiosity and attention.
Subsequently, Li Ning responded to Sino-Singapore Jingwei that the company pays attention to the consumer purchasing experience of retail terminals, and hopes to improve the comfort and experience of customers when shopping by optimizing in-store services. Providing coffee service in the store will be an innovative attempt by Li Ning for the retail terminal consumption experience link.
Earlier, some bloggers clocked in the freshly ground coffee in the Li Ning store on social media, saying that they could have a free drink after consumption. After the news of “Ning Coffee” was officially announced, when Li Ning promoted its Xiamen flagship store on the official Weibo, the figure of “Ning Coffee” could be seen in the picture, and some netizens posted pictures saying that they had drunk it.
The clerk of Li Ning’s flagship store in Xiamen Chinatown told the media, “Coffee drinking is not currently open to the public, and customers who come to the store can buy a product of 499 yuan for a free drink.” It is reported that the stores that provide coffee business are basically “big stores in shopping malls” or large flagship stores, while most of the smaller stores currently do not have this service.
Screenshot of Li Ning’s official Weibo
From this, it can be speculated that in the future, “Ning Coffee” may appear in the form of occupying part of Li Ning’s offline stores. According to the company’s annual report, as of the end of 2021, Li Ning has 5,905 franchised dealers and 1,232 direct retailers, totaling 7,137. In other words, Li Ning may have more than 7,000 offline stores, which is more than Starbucks’ more than 5,000 and Luckin’s more than 6,000.
Li Ning said in the financial report that during the year, the company continued to optimize channel construction and layout, focused on large stores in shopping malls, and continued to promote the implementation of high-efficiency large stores such as flagship stores.
Judging from the main business in recent years, Li Ning can be regarded as a “layman” in the coffee field. Li Ning’s total revenue in 2021 is 22.572 billion yuan, of which the clothing business contributed more than half of the revenue, followed by footwear, accounting for 42.1% of revenue, while equipment andAccessoriesAccounting for 5.5%, there is no catering industry in the business classification.
Netizens have different opinions on the news of Li Ning opening a coffee shop. Some people expressed support for Li Ning’s cross-border, if the coffee is delicious, you can try it; there are also views that this cross-border model is difficult to make money.
Food industry analyst Zhu Danpeng told Sino-Singapore Jingwei that coffee is only an auxiliary tool for Li Ning to achieve the function of increasing stickiness, which is a measure to meet and close to the needs of the new generation of consumers. Coffee is not Li Ning’s main business, and it has less impact on its main business. From an industry perspective, the current coffee track is a node of rapid growth and rapid expansion, and it is in a period of dividends. In the future, more brands will enter and there will be more differentiated products.
Lin Yue, chief analyst of Lingyan Consulting Management, analyzed that Li Ning stores are mostly just a foundation. Coffee and shoes and clothing are different in formats. Consumers who want to buy clothing, shoes and hats usually do not think of enjoying a cup of coffee in the store, and coffee is also It will take up the experience space of the store.
Chain giants eye coffee market
Li Ning is not the first to sell coffee across borders. In fact, this track of cross-border coffee can be described as very lively.
According to media reports, in February, the first post office coffee under China Post landed in Xiamen International Trade Building, and the cheapest cup of coffee was 22 yuan. In addition, the coffee shop also sells tea, desserts and the post office. It is understood that China Post also sold milk tea before.
In February 2021, Tongrentang opened a coffee shop “Zhima Health”, “health careThe concept of “coffee” has attracted a large number of young people for a while. According to media reports in 2021, from the perspective of store efficiency, the coffee drinks with the highest sales volume did not bring large profits, but were used as a means of drainage, which really brought profits. It is a health care product and sub-health diagnosis and treatment. Compared with Starbucks and Tims Coffee in the same location, Tongrentang Coffee still has a big gap in sales.
“Two barrels of oil” PetroChina and Sinopec have also set foot in the coffee field. In 2018, PetroChina began to set up freshly ground coffee in its Kunlun Hospitality convenience store. According to reports, there are currently more than 120 stores of PetroChina Kunlun Hospitality Coffee.
In February 2021, the joint venture established by Sinopec and Lian Coffee launched its own brand “Easy Jie Coffee”, which mainly sells coffee drinks and light meals, and consumers can also choose the “delivery to the car” service. According to the official public account of Easy Coffee, as of November 2021, the brand has 54 stores in Beijing, Suzhou and other places, mainly located in Sinopec gas stations. However, this figure is still far from its plan of “opening 3,000 stores in 3 years”.
Why do traditional giants prefer coffee? In this regard, Zhao Chilei, investment director of Qingtong Capital, said in a media analysis that one of the reasons why traditional brands are moving towards fast-moving consumption is to find a second growth curve. Traditional brands are also facing some problems, such as fierce competition, increase to the ceiling, and profit margins. Compression, etc., so you need to expand your own channels. In addition, the brand’s own capabilities spill over, such as supply chain channels, points or brand recognition, etc., and everyone will pay for the expansion of new categories.
According to the forecast of iiMedia Research, China’s coffee market has entered a stage of rapid development. In 2021, the size of China’s coffee market will be about 381.7 billion yuan, and the industry is expected to maintain a growth rate of 27.2%.
As non-professional players, will the entry of traditional giants squeeze the living space of Starbucks and Luckin? In this regard, Zhu Danpeng analyzed that, overall, there are still opportunities for cross-border coffee sales, but compared with professional coffee brands, the opportunities are not large.
“It can be seen from the crossover of giants such as Li Ning, China Post, and PetroChina that their brand positioning is different from that of professional coffee making. They have the advantages of outlet channel resources, store costs, traffic, etc.; but what needs to be considered is the lack of innate Whether they can really polish their products with coffee genes. For example, in terms of scene and brand tonality, they may become a relative disadvantage to traditional brands in the competition.”
