Starbucks purchasing agent has made a comeback: who sold the takeaway coffee you ordered?

For professional baristas, please follow the coffee workshop (Wechat official account cafe_style)

"

It's not hard to drink Starbucks, but if you add "don't go out", it's not that easy.

Under the current situation that the domestic and foreign selling market is booming, Starbucks seems unimpressed.

As a result, this has left an opportunity for some people to run errands of "Starbucks purchasing agents" on food ordering platforms such as ele.me and Meituan.

News about these purchasing agents is like menstrual stickers, which come out every once in a while. This time, we made a special study to see where their profits are. What is Starbucks' attitude towards this?

"

Ka Men | Wang Jing, from Shanghai

one

Starbucks'"middleman"

On the takeout platform, I found a merchant who is a "Starbucks purchasing agent":

▲ is a Starbucks purchasing agent on the takeout platform.

As you can see, except for the name of the store with the word "Starbucks", logo and the product drawings used have nothing to do with Starbucks.

But when I click on the comment section, I feel: it's really Starbucks!

▲ read the comments and knew that it was a Starbucks purchasing agent, and he couldn't be wrong.

I searched the store, there are more than 3000 comments, from the picture can be confirmed: they do sell Starbucks products.

And there are not a few such stores, just within the scope of my positioning, you can find six, named SH one store, SH two stores, SH three stores, SH should be the abbreviation of Shanghai.

And these purchasing agents will not be limited in scope. The results of my search in Xujiahui are the same as those in a residential area in Hongkou District. The six stores can be brushed out, with a difference of nearly 20 kilometers.

It can be seen that this kind of purchasing agent is that as long as there is Starbucks, there is something to "sell".

Out of the desire to explore the new world, I also ordered a cup at home and experienced it:

After placing the order, there will be a phone call to confirm the content of the order, asking if there are any requirements such as less sugar and milk.

It took about 30 minutes from placing an order to getting the drink, which is not bad. It probably has something to do with a Starbucks store not far from my home.

Probably for fear of liquid leakage on the way, the iced latte I ordered was covered with two lids and sealed with three layers of transparent tape. This small detail, in terms of user experience, can be said to be very Starbucks.

According to the takeout boy, this kind of Starbucks list can send more than 100 cups a day at most.

two

Errand fee + price increase + Star Card points: there are a lot of articles in the profit.

According to the information uploaded by the merchants on the takeout platform, the company is called Shanghai Moose Electronic Commerce Co., Ltd., registered in Xuhui District of Shanghai, and its main business is electronic components. And Starbucks are obviously two different people.

On the page, the merchant also posted a notice: the takeout business has nothing to do with Starbucks.

In the product price is so transparent, many stores, supply and demand is relatively stable under the brand to survive, what on earth do they rely on to make money? To sum up, there are three points:

1. Charge a certain fee for running errands and share it with the takeout boy.

When you place an order to buy Starbucks on the platform, you need an errand fee of 8 yuan (take Shanghai as an example). No matter how many cups you buy, the errand fee is divided with the runner, who is under the control of one company.

The delivery fee for ▲ to buy Starbucks seems to be higher than that of ordinary takeout.

two。 Raise the price appropriately and make a little profit.

There will be a slight increase in prices for purchasing agents. Take a tall hot latte as an example, it costs 28 yuan in Starbucks, 31 yuan on the purchasing agent platform, 31 yuan in Matcha Star Frappuccino, and 34 yuan on the platform. In other words, basically each cup has increased by 3 yuan at the original price.

Although 3 yuan is not much, but this has already collected the net profit on the agency purchase fee, if the quantity is large, the income can be imagined.

3. "make a lot of money" in the star card.

Everyone is familiar with Starbucks membership cards. Through the accumulation of stars, Starbucks membership cards can produce certain "membership benefits". When they accumulate to 25 stars and become distinguished gold card members, there are preferential activities such as buying three cups at one time and getting one free. And often give coupons and so on.

▲ starts with star cards, and you can make a profit.

It takes a certain amount of time for ordinary people to accumulate gold cards unless they drink it every day, but as a purchasing agent who can buy hundreds of cups a day, it is too easy.

With a coupon, you can buy a cup of coffee for only 3 yuan. Is it a high profit for the customer to charge the original price? Many companies or young brothers will also figure out how to maximize profits based on the type and quantity of products they buy.

three

If something goes wrong, who is to blame?

The hasty white-collar workers in the city have driven the "lazy economy", and the popularity of this kind of purchasing agents also happens to take advantage of this--

Some people just don't want to go out of the office and home, hoping to drink coffee "motionless".

Now the "resurrected" purchasing agents do meet the needs of some people: they are sensitive to time and less sensitive to money.

On the other hand, Starbucks has said that it does not have any formal business cooperation with any third-party delivery service platform in China.

In essence, this kind of purchasing agent positioning is ambiguous, in the gray area. Some media have consulted relevant lawyers, saying that if the errands show cooperation with Starbucks, but the fact is not, then there may be a tort; but if it is not indicated as a "cooperative relationship," there is no infringement if only purchasing agents and errands are provided.

Starbucks insiders have previously said that "there will be an investigation" and "do not rule out the possibility of legal action".

Daigou platforms like ▲ are still in a gray area.

What consumers are more concerned about is, if something goes wrong after getting the product, who should be held responsible?

"I once ordered a cup of hot cocoa and spilled 1/3, and the errand boy refunded me two yuan." Miss Chen, who has used this errand service, told me. This is because it can be judged that the responsibility comes from the dispatcher, and there are mistakes in the distribution process.

However, the addition of an intermediate link between coffee producers and consumers means more uncontrollable factors, which is not only related to consumer experience, but also to food safety.

The Starbucks purchasing agent, who is always "blowing and living", on the one hand, leaves himself and Starbucks clean, but continues to rely on Starbucks to make money.

Once there is a problem, especially after the product is drunk, how to judge the responsible party is an inexplicable account. Consumers, on the other hand, have to pay for this risk first.

What do you think of these purchasing agents' platforms?