Starbucks' success depends on China to open a store within 15 hours.

Chinese mainland is the "gold rush" for some multinational companies and a major driver of Starbucks' results in the second quarter of fiscal 2017. Photo Fei Chinese mainland local Starbucks. (central News Agency file photo)

(central News Agency, Taipei, 3rd) Chinese mainland is the "gold rush" for some multinational enterprises, and it is also the main driving force behind Starbucks' performance in the second quarter of fiscal 2017. Johnson, president and CEO of Starbucks, said that in the coming decades, it will continue to open one store every 15 hours to expand the mainland market.

The Chinese mainland market became the main driver of Starbucks' performance growth in the second quarter of fiscal 2017, Interface News reported today. On a conference call for the first time since the announcement of the results, Chinese mainland District CEO Wang Jingying was invited to report independently in the middle of the night.

Chinese mainland's quarterly results showed that same-store sales in the global and US markets grew 3 per cent, below Wall Street analysts' expectations; however, Starbucks same-store sales rose 7 per cent.

Johnson (Kevin Johnson), president and CEO of Starbucks, said that since Starbucks first entered the Chinese mainland market 18 years ago, the business performance has never been so strong. Wang Jingying, CEO of Chinese mainland, attributes the growth to beverage, food and digital innovation.

Specifically, the cycle for Starbucks to launch time-limited new products is shorter and more in line with seasonal demand. Starbucks' second coffee roaster and Zhenxuan restaurant will also open in Shanghai.

In addition, Starbucks adopted the WeChat Pay system at the end of 2016 and promoted the "saying with stars" service on Wechat platform in February this year, allowing consumers to give Starbucks virtual e-coupons to friends, which is also seen as a way to attract new customers.

In 2016, Chinese mainland proposed to set up 5000 stores by 2021, and by the end of the same year, it had already achieved half of its goal of 2628 stores, surpassing the Japanese market to become the largest overseas market by Starbucks stores.

Johnson said that in the coming decades, Starbucks will continue to expand its market at Chinese mainland at an average rate of opening a new store every 15 hours.