Illy, which used to sell coffee mainly to high-end hotels and cafes, now has to face consumers.

The first step is to open a new image store in Hangzhou.

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You may be familiar with this square logo with white characters on a red background. This coffee brand called "illy" often appears in the rooms of upscale hotels or next to the signs of catering brands.

The 84-year-old Italian family business faces mainly corporate customers-75 per cent of its business in China comes from hotel catering companies, one of the biggest of which is Marriott.

Until May 27 this year, illy opened a "new image" store in the city square of Hangzhou National University. The brand, which always produces and sells only one flavor of coffee beans / powder, sells espresso, light snacks, coffee cocktails and art collection cups as well as coffee makers in the store. It also plans to open such stores in cities with contours such as Shanghai, Beijing and Dalian.

This means that illy is gradually turning to the Chinese consumer market.

Before that, there were only four illy Imando stores in China, which were located in Fangcao in Beijing, Jinmao Tower in Shanghai, Xujiahui and people's Square. Imando is a concept store developed by illy in 2003. the design and production of stores around the world are completed by Italian designers and architecture firms.

Compared with Starbucks, which expanded its coffee territory with a large number of stores, illy took a completely different path in the past: when Starbucks sank more than 2000 stores from first-tier cities to third-and fourth-tier cities, illy opened only four Italian stores in Shanghai and Beijing in the 20 years since it entered China. In the world, illy has only opened more than 240 similar stores.

Even their customers are completely different. Starbucks has always been connected to consumers, while illy sells coffee equipment and beans to hotels such as Marriott and Peace Hotel or restaurants such as Haagen-Dazs and Wagas.

As a result, most of the coffee shops with illy signs just buy illy coffee machines or coffee beans. After they buy a product, as long as they sign a promise to use the trademark, they can put up the sign with a red background. At a time when the coffee market is far less competitive than it is today, this small brand with white characters on a red background has become a symbol of high-quality coffee.

Like all foreign-funded enterprises that entered China in the early days, illy was represented by Shanghai Meiyi Company when it first entered China, then separated from its agents in 2001 and began to expand the Chinese market.

In recent years, however, illy has been less well-known in China than other consumer coffee brands such as Starbucks and Costa. Zhang Guojun, general manager of illy China, told Global Entrepreneur in 2011: "We only need 3 to 5 per cent of the Starbucks market, and that's a lot."

I have to say, this is not "a lot", but "quite a lot". Illy has yet to reveal plans for a shift in market goals, but it will surely see that boutique coffee has spread a lot of consumer quality awareness in first-tier cities, while Starbucks and Costa have grabbed most of the store resources-it's not easy to find your own way.

The picture is from: illy