KFC's new "negative score" boutique cafe: it's a textbook-like cross-border failure.

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Recently, KFC won the location of the former Hershey Chocolate flagship store in Shanghai's people's Square and opened a two-story boutique cafe, another diversified attempt after opening a light food restaurant K PRO in Hangzhou last year.

But unfortunately, it did not become a hot thing in the city.

In Shanghai, there is no shortage of topics related to "coffee".

Starbucks is the absolute leader in this field, the global roaster settled in Shanghai Taiguhui last year, as of the first half of this year, Starbucks in Shanghai has more than 600 stores; boutique cafes are not to be outdone. Japanese coffee brand% Arabica has opened two stores in prime locations, local coffee brand Seesaw has accelerated its national layout after obtaining financing, and there are numerous independent cafes in the center of the city.

△ the classic "shanghai" wall of Starbucks Bakery in Shanghai

In such an environment, even the boutique cafes of KFC are not surprising to users.

Back to the new KFC cafe brand: COFFii & 喜悦.

At the beginning of the opening, the controversial "COFFii & 喜悦 Limited selection Coffee" with a price tag of 199 yuan per cup and a limit of 10 cups per day. But apart from that, it left almost no more memory points. A month later, no one in the moments signed in specifically, and it was mediocre on Dianping.

There are only more than 70 comments on △, of which 22% are medium or poor.

After opening this store for nearly half a month, I decided to choose a working day in the afternoon to experience it. But the whole experience, to be honest, is not good.

COFFii & 喜悦 Cafe can be seen out of the subway entrance, and the transparent floor-to-ceiling glass allows passers-by outside the mall to have a panoramic view of the interior. Of course, even a little bit of detail will be exposed in this way.

△ recruitment posters were scattered all over the floor and no one dealt with them until I left.

The simple Nordic design of the cafe is mainly blue, white and gray. If it were not for the KFC ordering machine full of space, passers-by would not associate it with KFC.

There are dining rooms on the first and second floor, but the bar on the second floor is not open. The menu setting is relatively simple, and the price is cheaper than most cafes on the market and slightly higher than KFC's KCOFFEE.

△ Coffee menu

If we don't go to the second floor, we may just classify it as a small attempt made by a big brand, well-behaved and uncharacteristic, but it won't go wrong.

Until I went to the second floor.

I thought the second floor was just a dining area, but I was caught off guard by NetEase's strict selection.

The main entrance to the dining area on the △ escalator

In addition to the dining area and the bar, the second floor is the product area strictly selected by NetEase.

There are many products on the spot, except for a small number of products printed with Colonel KFC, most of them are strictly selected self-owned goods; settlement uses unmanned operation, user self-settlement, and the process is the same as the "smart stores" promoted by Internet giants.

△ NetEase strictly chooses household product area

This makes people wonder why KFC should set up a retail experience area on the second floor to sell products that have nothing to do with them.

Perhaps KFC is thinking like this, they are aware of the fierce competition for boutique coffee and the need to make differentiation to highlight brand differences, so they use the popular concepts of CO-branding and "unmanned shelves" to try to supplement the shortcomings of COFFii&JOY in boutique cafes.

But this cross-border is confusing, thinking from the perspective of consumption scene, in a "chicken-eating" fast food restaurant, without special guidance, it is difficult to make users think of going to the nearby display area to buy things, and these products are not rare.

Of course, if KFC is to set aside a separate area for strict selection, closing rent and sales commission, it may be possible to prove that this cooperation is feasible. But at the scene, no one asked or tried it out except me, let alone promote sales.

Entrance on the other side of △

Starting from UBER, the marketing method of Co-branding has gradually become popular from Internet brands until it has spread to various industries in recent years. Good brand cross-border, the effect is the mutual empowerment between the two brands, enhance the topic of the brand, promote sales.

In fact, KFC and NetEase Yan Xuan are both good marketers, and the former textbook marketing cases are talked about by people in the circle. As mentioned earlier, "Rui Qiu" has also recommended KFC cases many times.

KFC's 6789 Breakfast and the 10th Anniversary of its entry into China have been very successful.

This cross-border cooperation between the two sides can already be described as a "car accident". In the fast food scene, it really cannot be combined with the retail of "experiential consumption". Another so-called "unmanned shelf" gimmick is a pat on the head by the decision-makers.

If KFC wants to break the dining scene and make full use of the space on the second floor, it can actually make a "KFC showroom", using high-quality exhibition content to convey KFC's brand stories and values. In people's Square, where there is no shortage of people, this operation is more conducive to brand communication.

Curiosity Daily reported to it a month ago, entitled "KFC's parent company opens a coffee shop in Shanghai and wants to be an online celebrity." Today, if it is "not full of online celebrities", its positioning is still unclear, its operation is not in place, and its marketing is too eager for quick success and instant benefits, then the brand may not be sustainable.

Author: Rui Qiu Editor: Ding Cat