Does customer staying too long affect Starbucks revenue?

(Starbucks Wangfujing store, a mug with the words Changsha, with Xiangjiang and Ai Evening Pavilion printed on the cup. Photo / Xiaoxiang Morning Post Rolling journalist Shen Ronghua)

Changsha, April 20 (Xiaoxiang Morning Post rolling journalist Wang Huan) being "loved" too much may become a burden.

Chinese mainland will overtake Canada as its second largest market in 2014, Starbucks President Howard Schultz told the media. However, his "ambition" was poured cold water by the British. An analysis of a recent British media report: Chinese customers stay in stores for too long and their low income levels mean that Chinese mainland sales in the Starbucks market are much lower than in the United States and other markets.

Does the customer stay too long affect the income?

The British media pointed out in the article: "many Chinese consumers like Starbucks so much that they stay in the store for hours, but sometimes they don't even buy a drink." The habit of Chinese customers staying in stores for too long and their low income levels mean Chinese mainland sales are much lower than in the US and other markets, where it is common practice for customers to take coffee away for drinking.

Yesterday morning, although it was not the weekend, the Starbucks Changsha Peace Hall was still full of people. Most of the customers are young people between the ages of 20 and 35, sitting by the window in a daze, surfing the Internet with Macintosh or iPad, or reading and painting with headphones. More girls and boys in twos and threes, each with a cup of coffee, chatting leisurely.

The reporter counted that more than 10 guests stayed here all morning, accounting for about 1/3 of the total number of guests; until the reporter left, 4 of the 10 customers did not leave. Eight of these people had a cup of coffee, while the other two girls buried themselves in the Internet did not order at all.

"what will you do in such a situation?" The reporter asked. "We welcome it." The head of the store said, "Starbucks' business philosophy is to provide 100% satisfactory service to customers, even if we do not order, we will not drive them away." However, he added, "We usually politely explain the situation to those customers who have nothing at all, and there are other customers who are more in need of spending here. They are generally very reasonable and quickly give up their seats. "

"Starbucks coffee is Iced Black Tea in the United States."

As for the habit that Americans buy coffee to take away and Chinese like to stay for a long time, a clerk at another Starbucks store in Changsha believes that this has something to do with price and coffee culture. "A cup of Starbucks coffee costs less than $2 in the United States, just like our Iced Black Tea here. Many people just buy it and leave because they want it. But in China, it is different. Many people may prefer the environment of the store to coffee. " The clerk said that in addition to the price issue, it is also related to coffee culture, Chinese mentality and many other factors.

The clerk also revealed that Starbucks offers wireless WIFI from 07:30 to 4 a.m., so many people come here to surf the Internet, and some don't need coffee. "at this time, we will also provide them with a glass of boiled water for free." Does this situation affect their sales and profits? Both stores believe that they have not made relevant statistics and have not seen a big impact at present.

The reporter tried to contact Starbucks China headquarters yesterday afternoon, but there was still no reply as of press time.

Chinese mainland is expected to become the second largest market in 2014

In fact, Starbucks attaches great importance to the Chinese market and is expanding in China at the rate of opening a new store every four days. At present, there are about 570 Starbucks stores in China, and the company plans to increase to more than 1500 by 2015. Chinese mainland will overtake Canada as the world's second-largest market by 2014, Starbucks president Schultz has told the media with ambition. Starbucks has 10800 stores in the United States, its largest market in the world.

According to foreign media reports, although Starbucks' revenue in China accounts for less than 5% of the company's total revenue, the operating profit margin of about 22% of Starbucks stores in China is higher than that in the United States, because its pricing in China is equivalent to that in the United States. At Chinese mainland, Starbucks had a price increase at the start of the year, averaging about 1 per cent.

Schultz also told British media: "for 10 years, Chinese mainland's core customers have been foreigners and foreign tourists working in China." There is no doubt that today's core customers are Chinese. " It is obvious that the world's largest coffee chain has tasted the sweetness of the market because of the love of it by more and more Chinese.

China Coffee Trading Network: www.gafei.com