Starbucks CEO Johnson: User experience is unique in the industry, Ruixing Coffee can't surpass

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Luckin Coffee expanded rapidly in China with huge capital in 2018, opening more than 2000 stores last year, and plans to open another 2500 this year. No matter who sees it, Starbucks, which is known as the number one in the domestic coffee market, has encountered strong competitors.

However, Kevin Johnson, the global CEO of Starbucks, is not worried. In his view, the competition is actually expanding the potential market, and Luckin Coffee will not be able to surpass Starbucks this year.

Starbucks ranks among the best in China

As we all know, Ruixing is ambitious and has decided to have more than 4500 stores in 2019. At the same time, Starbucks, which already has nearly 3700 stores in China, is expanding at the rate of opening one store every 15 hours, entering 10 new cities last quarter and now 158cities in the country. These new and existing stores are generating double-digit transaction growth for Starbucks.

For this huge growth, Johnson said in an interview that it depends on their unique customer experience. For Starbucks, the unique customer experience they offer in China and around the world is unique in the industry.

Expand the in-store experience through online mobile collaboration

'when you have a large share of the Chinese coffee market, there will be a lot of competitors, 'says Mr Johnson. Some competitors will try to differentiate in different ways, and some will have to use a "price war" for high publicity. For Starbucks, the difference from its competitors is the in-store experience, the quality of the coffee and the digital impact it has through its partnership with Alibaba.

Starbucks will continue to be faithful to the experience created in the store and expand it through "online services". Now, the number of Chinese users using Alibaba has reached 600m a day, which Starbucks hopes will help it continue to achieve double-digit transaction growth.

Promote product innovation to cater to the higher pursuit of the audience

Apart from opening more and more stores in prefecture-level cities and working with Ali to explore online development space and carry out takeout business, it can not be ignored that the number of Zhenxuan stores and flagship stores is also expanding. This is used to deal with the third coffee wave, cater to the audience's higher pursuit of coffee quality, the expansion of a variety of new categories, so that we have more choices.

Johnson said Starbucks' top priority is to expand its footprint while continuing to enhance the store experience and promote beverage innovation so that customers can reach Starbucks through new channels. The newly opened Starbucks Shenzhen Bay Zhenxuan store also experienced this theme, becoming the fourth Starbucks in the country to sell alcohol after two in Shanghai (bakery and World Trade Center) and one in Beijing (Beijing Fang store).

On app such as Dianping, Starbucks'"Lane Evening Wind" and "Merlot" alcoholic beverages have become online celebrity singles. Consumer feedback also proves that creative blend drinks are no less popular in first-tier cities, even if they are more expensive.

Starbucks CEO's confidence is not generalized, solid measures and a good understanding of its own positioning and play to give it enough support. The increase of competitors will inevitably lead to the expansion of the coffee market. Starbucks, which has a huge brand advantage, is probably not to face Lucky, but to fight a protracted war with the entire Chinese coffee industry.