Is it an inevitable trend or desperate for Seesaw boutique coffee to go to the mass market?

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Boutique coffee finally no longer feels out of reach. The future market share is also slowly expanding.

According to incomplete statistics, there are more than 20,000 coffee shops in China, mainly in first -, second-and third-tier cities. Among them, Starbucks alone has opened more than 2600 stores in more than 120 cities, and many "small and beautiful" independent boutique coffee shops are also gradually recognized by consumers in the wave of consumer upgrading, which may no longer be just the needs of niche markets. but gradually become the daily needs of consumers.

Shanghai is a city with a mature coffee market. If you are in Shanghai, you should be no stranger to Seesaw Coffee. It is the leader in the domestic boutique coffee market. However, it went in the opposite direction, broke the pattern of independent stores and began to move towards the model of commercial chain stores.

With these questions, the New Store study Society interviewed Zong Xin Kuang Tom, the founder of Seesaw.

Grab the core customer base and once sold 1000 cups of coffee a day.

Seesaw Shanghai Yuyuan Road Store

"A good life should be shared with more people, and good coffee should be enjoyed by more people." This is the original intention of Zong Xinguang to create the brand.

Seesaw Coffee can be interpreted as see what we saw.

Zong Xinkang believes that the scale of the coffee market itself has enough space for different types of coffee platforms. As a young, energetic, passionate and creative brand, Seesaw wants to bring boutique coffee to the domestic coffee market and bring it to Chinese consumers.

In 2012, Seesaw opened its first store on Yuyuan Road in Shanghai and entered the boutique coffee market earlier. Relying on quality and concept, as well as the advanced store space design full of emotional ideas, it was quickly recognized by consumers and the industry. On the opening day of Huaihai Road store in 2015, an astonishing number of 1000 cups of coffee were sold.

Boutique coffee in the domestic coffee market at that time, there was already a relatively large commercial space and business opportunities, even Zong Xin Kuang, who never drank coffee, founded a coffee brand instead.

From the beginning, the core consumer base of Seesaw is people with personalized needs for quality of life, who want to be more different, more human, better texture, and better experience, and their consumption pattern has been upgraded. This is also the group that Seesaw wants to catch.

So, does the niche market positioning of boutique coffee conflict with Seesaw's sharing spirit?

Zong Xinkang believes that boutique coffee can be accepted and liked by more people, and there is no need to look at it with a certain label. Consumers themselves are upgrading the quality and taste of food. In fact, they just need to feel that you are more refined, special, and tastier than before, and that you feel different from the overall experience. Seesaw wants to create such a position.

Boutique coffee is just a drink, personalized and cost-effective

"focus on every step from coffee beans to a cup of coffee."

The reason why Seesaw defines himself as boutique coffee is that no matter from the source of the coffee, to the way it is roasted and brewed, and finally the final presentation of this cup of coffee delivered by the barista in the store, it can show a more refined state in each link, making people interested in mining, which is also the unique feature of the brand.

The extreme, diversity and personality of boutique coffee are different from Starbucks, Costa, Pacific Coffee and other commercial coffee in the following four aspects:

1. Direct purchase of origin

2. Fine-processed micro-batches of fine coffee beans

3. Rich manual cooking methods.

4. Personalized social sharing design space.

Besides coffee, Seesaw also serves other types of drinks, as well as exquisite cake desserts. And here, all coffee has only one size, so consumers no longer need to worry about medium or large cups.

Seesaw adjusts the menu according to the season of coffee beans and through innovative brewing methods, making it a simpler and more direct way for consumers to understand what fine coffee is and become more interested in it.

At the same time, we found that the price of Seesaw espresso is controlled between 222,35 yuan, and the lowest price of filtered coffee is 38 yuan. This kind of coffee is indeed much more cost-effective than other boutique coffee.

Zong Xinkang believes that coffee can only be regarded as a drink in the final analysis. From an industry point of view, brands will price coffee while ensuring profitability. From the purchase of upstream coffee beans, the control of the middle baking process, to the final production of the store, they have made corresponding quality optimization in all aspects.

In addition, the product structure of seesaw is very simple, mainly coffee. Therefore, as long as it can improve the efficiency of operation, reduce unnecessary waste, control costs, and make it in line with the brand's expected gross profit margin performance, it can basically maintain profitability.

Break the tradition of small and beautiful boutique coffee shops and move towards chain operation

Seesaw Pudong Kerry Store

Compared with other boutique coffee counterparts, Seesaw is different in that it plans to take the path of commercialization and scale in the first place, rather than simply opening a small and beautiful store.

As Zong Xinkang said, Seesaw has been aiming at chain operation from the very beginning. In five years, it has nine stores in mainland China, eight stores in Shanghai and one in Shenzhen. From the third store, we put down our posture and walked into the bustling shopping center, breaking the custom of opening a small shop for boutique coffee and narrowing the distance with consumers.

Seesaw Shenzhen Laifu Shop

Seesaw just received an investment of 45 million from Hony Investment last month, which is a good promotion and support for the brand. With the help of capital, we can not only attract the attention of more resources and talents, but also let more people drink the good coffee that Seesaw insists on through the rapid expansion of stores. This is a basic point, and it is also the most anticipated part of Zong Xin Kuang.

According to Zong Xinguang, in 2017, Seesaw will open 20 stores in mainland China, mainly medium-and high-end shopping malls in first-tier cities, giving priority to cities with good economic development, entrepreneurial atmosphere and easy acceptance of new things, which is beneficial for the brand to open the market in the early stage. In addition to Shanghai and Shenzhen, the first cities to be stationed are Beijing, Suzhou, Hangzhou and Chengdu.

Seesaw Shanghai Huaihai Road Store

The area requirements of stores are generally divided into three categories:

The first category is a large shop of 300 square meters, which has a complete experience and an on-site baking area, so that guests can know more about the process from coffee beans to a cup of coffee.

The second category is a medium-sized store of 150 won and 200 square meters. The creation and production experience of the whole space can meet the needs of consumers for temporary office work.

The third category is 30Mui 50 square meters, which is generally opened in office buildings or specializes in take-out services.

The design style of each store in Seesaw will be somewhat different. But on the whole, it will set up an open bar, open space, not over-design, but to create a just right space experience, to achieve a just right balance.

Popularize coffee culture and offer sharing courses

Seesaw Leo's

It is understood that in the five years since the establishment of Seesaw Coffee, the number of advertisements placed on the media platform has been almost zero, and the exposure in the market is only based on the overall temperament of the existing stores, products, baristas and the word-of-mouth of fans.

In order to maintain a good coffee culture, Seesaw will not only update some coffee-related things from time to time on the official account of the brand, but also open coffee sharing classes on different topics in stores to get in close contact and communicate with consumers. Through coffee cultural activities to inject new energy into the city, through various means to expand the market influence for the brand and boutique coffee itself.

Seesaw has about 30 coffee-sharing classes per month, which are divided into fee-based and free feedback types. Among them, the price range of the fee-based courses will be 280mur350 yuan per basic course, and there will also be professional-level courses priced at about 2000 yuan, which will last for a week, so that you can have a more complete and systematic understanding of the training of the entire boutique coffee industry.

In addition, there will be coffee knowledge sharing classes, free cup testing activities, coffee brewing teaching activities and so on.

In addition, Seesaw Coffee is the only coffee supplier in China for the shared office giant WeWork, which is another affirmation for Seesaw.

Zong Xinkuang said that the tonality given to consumers by Seesaw has a very high degree of agreement with WeWork members. Seesaw has helped them build a fully automated coffee buffet system, as well as coffee-sharing classes and recruitment activities for their members.

Is Seesaw an online celebrity coffee shop?

Zong Xinkang said that any great brand, from the initial stage to the stage recognized by consumers, most of them used to be online red stores. But to define whether it is successful or not, we need to see whether the products and content it outputs can gain a foothold in the market for a long time.

As a young coffee brand, Seesaw doesn't need to create some kind of online celebrity food or popular item. The brand itself has created such a coffee culture, and the concept of boutique coffee behind it is all preparing for the future, hoping that if it can continue to be active in this market in the next five or ten years, maybe the voice will fade away.