Master Kang and Starbucks recently "hold hands" fast consumer goods giant to "drink" instant coffee.

The consumption of ready-to-drink coffee in Hangzhou is growing rapidly, and consumers can buy nearly 30 types of coffee.

Starbucks, which is willing but powerless to the domestic distribution network, recently announced that it will "join hands" to cooperate with Master Kang, who has the advantage of channels, and will fight again to drink coffee.

This blockbuster news not only makes coffee drinks enthusiasts look forward to Starbucks'"localization", but also arouses the thinking of people in the industry. The category of ready-to-drink coffee in China has developed rapidly in recent years. Taking the survey data of Canardia in the UK as an example, the compound growth rate of China's ready-to-drink coffee market has reached 34.2% in the five years since 2009. In the beverage market that has passed the golden growth period, can instant coffee become a new favorite?

There are many brands of ready-to-drink coffee.

"5 yuan coffee" grabs the "entry-level" consumer group

"although the taste is not as good as freshly ground coffee, it is more suitable for fast-paced office workers." It takes time and effort to fiddle with the coffee machine, and the "queue" in the cafe during lunch break is too time-consuming. Chen Jiajia, a white-collar worker who works in an office building near Miduqiao Road in Hangzhou, solves the problem of "one cup a day" with a 180 ml can of ready-to-drink coffee.

The reporter saw in the whole family, Coca-Cola, Century Lianhua, o'le and other supermarkets, the common Nestle, Coca-Cola Qiaoya, Uni-Yaha, Weiquan Bernarzon, Brown, just imported from Japan to drink coffee, there are UCC, Sanjiali, Fuyong, Parade, ASEED and other brands. In an interview, a customer service manager of Roebuck Coffee in Guangzhou said that the highest monthly sales of coffee drinks in Zhejiang are expected to be close to 100000.

The brand Landessa Rand, which sells for nearly 20 yuan a can, as well as Thailand's Alozin and Denmark's illy coffee with a supermarket price of 18.6 yuan and 16.5 yuan per 250ml have already entered the ready-to-drink coffee market in Hangzhou.

"since last year, the consumption of ready-to-drink coffee has been increasing. Coupled with the fact that domestic beverage brands have been put into production, the types of instant coffee in supermarkets are also growing, and new products are on the shelves from time to time. " Ms. Zhuo, who is related to the public relations department of China Resources Wanjia, said that taking the purchasing channels of China Resources Wanjia and Vango as an example, the number of domestic ready-to-drink coffee has soared to 19, while the number of imported instant coffee has also increased to five or six.

In Century Lianhua supermarket West Lake Yintai City store, more than 20 types of ready-to-drink coffee occupy half of a beverage shelf, while o'le supermarket's ready-to-drink coffee drinks have been "expanded" to nearly 30.

The reporter learned that at present, the lowest price of ready-to-drink coffee on the Hangzhou market is about 3.5 yuan, and the specification is more than 180 milliliters a can. Compared with popular drinks, ready-to-drink coffee, which is inclined to the middle and high end, is also waiting for an opportunity to compete for "entry-level" coffee beverage lovers. In order to meet consumers' pursuit of performance-to-price ratio, "5 yuan coffee" has also become a hot style in convenience stores. At present, it is not only Hot Cafe, Nestle, Yaha, Qiaoya, more and more ready-to-drink coffee brands have launched 180mur250ml "pro-people clothes". For example, in March, there was a 5 yuan / 240 ml "pure extract drink" instant coffee labeled as "new product" and added to the convenience store "5 yuan coffee" camp.

"especially during the lunch break, many white-collar workers are 'one can per person'." Mr. Zhuang, the person in charge of a convenience store, revealed that the "winter warm box + summer freezer" can almost support the year-round consumer market for ready-to-drink coffee.

Compound growth rate as high as 34.2%

Ready-to-drink coffee is expected to become a new favorite in the beverage market

Open-bottle coffee is not only favored by fast-paced young white-collar workers in Hangzhou, but also become a hot spot competed by fast-consumer goods bosses at home and abroad.

After Yibao "marriage" Japanese Kirin hot coffee, recently, Starbucks joined hands with Master Kang to fight again in the ready-to-drink coffee market. In late March, Starbucks Coffee and Master Kang announced that they had signed a formal cooperation agreement to produce Chinese mainland ready-to-drink drinks and expand distribution channels in the local market. Coincidentally, Coca-Cola launched Joya Coffee in a high profile last year. According to media reports, China Resources Yibao insiders also revealed recently, "this year will consider combing the magic vitamin water and coffee coffee two categories."

Fast consumer goods giants have "entered the war", leading industry insiders to predict that instant coffee, a minority beverage market with a compound growth rate of 34.2%, is expected to become a new favorite in the industry after the entire beverage industry has bid farewell to the golden era of high growth.

According to incomplete statistics, South Koreans consumed an average of 290 coffee cups a year in 2014. This is 50 times the annual consumption of five cups of coffee by the urban population of Chinese mainland. " Even if coffee drinks cannot be compared with freshly ground coffee, according to Boeing Lou, secretary general of Hangzhou Coffee Western Food Industry Association, "consumers are changing, and coffee audiences and consumption habits still need to be cultivated." He said that this set of coffee data can not only cheer up the coffee western food industry, but also make the beverage industry where ready-to-drink coffee is located feel that the coffee beverage market has great potential to tap.

According to media reports, a previous report released by consulting firm Mintel shows that at present, the market share of instant coffee, freshly brewed coffee and instant coffee is 71.8%, 10.1% and 18.1%, respectively. "although instant coffee continues to dominate China's coffee market, these two market segments are expected to gain more share as the freshly ground and ready-to-drink coffee markets grow more rapidly."

There are also people in the industry who are not optimistic, saying that the price of coffee drinks is on the high side and is subject to the "minority". "although the overall growth rate is obvious, drinking coffee is still limited by the narrow audience."

Although Nestl é had previously destroyed stocks of nearly 400 tons of instant coffee, this did not stop beverage companies from being enthusiastic about the coffee market, and Starbucks' actions in the deep-cultivated coffee market, such as Master Kang and China Resources Yibao, also sent a positive signal again. It is reported that China's ready-to-drink coffee and energy drinks market is worth 6 billion US dollars and is expected to grow by about 20 per cent in the next three years.

Source: Zhejiang online-Morning Post