Coffee consumption in China is rising.

The vigorous development of China's coffee market will be loved by all coffee practitioners.

Our reporter | Liu Xuan

Nespresso is a famous name in the field of capsule coffee maker. However, the sub-brand of the Swiss company Nestle did not enter China until 2007 and opened six boutiques in China in eight years.

In the 1970s, scientists in Geneva, Switzerland developed a new single-cup espresso brewing system, and then Nestl é bought its commercial license and spent 10 years to build a new Nespresso system.

Sales of the product were lukewarm for the first few years, until 1988, when Nespresso changed its development plans to target a new generation of coffee machine consumers who pursue taste, easy to use and easy to clean, and adopted a direct marketing approach, which was sold by telephone and then delivered to customers.

At the same time, Nespresso is also making great efforts to expand the B2B market, such as star hotels, high-end restaurants and even first-class / business class aircraft. This is a significant move, in addition to bringing direct sales, but also established a high-end brand image, so that many high-end consumer places that do not have Nespresso coffee machines have expressed their intention to buy. In the aviation market alone, as early as 2000, 1100 planes from 20 different airlines were using Nespresso coffee machines, and more than 3.5 million passengers had the opportunity to taste Nespresso coffee every year. Nespresso marketing staff also give products to celebrities from all walks of life, thus arousing the "up-to-date" worship shopping trend.

It is understood that the buyers of Nespresso are accurate and loyal customers-an average of several hundred dollars per person per year.

In addition to telephone and official website sales, offline boutiques are also one of the sales channels that Nespresso adheres to. Nespresso now has hundreds of boutiques around the world, in well-known cities around the world, from Zurich, Milan and London to Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro and New York. The staff in the store will give customers advice on buying coffee machines, recommend different coffee flavors, and provide snacks and snacks to go with coffee.

However, online sales have become mainstream today, Nespresso still seems to be like a stubborn old-fashioned royal aristocracy, still does not allow itself and customers to have any intermediate link. Even on Tmall, which is full of branded stores, you can't find Nespresso's official flagship stores-they sell online only through their own official website.

What were they thinking? How are they going to compete in the Chinese market? To this end, "Financial World" Weekly interviewed Nespresso's global CEO Jean-Marc Duvoisin.

"Finance and Economics World" Weekly = EW

Jean-Marc Duvoisin=JMD

EW: what are the advantages of Nespresso over competitors in the same field?

JMD: compared with other brands, our greatest competitive advantage is that we always adhere to the core concept of the brand and are committed to bringing the highest quality coffee experience to consumers. Nespresso offers a wide range of coffee flavors, with 23 preferred flavors, and regularly launches limited edition coffee flavors to meet more customer needs. These beans are selected from different coffee producing areas in the world, and some of the coffee from India, Colombia and Ethiopia is very exotic in experience. The choice of a variety of coffee flavors enables consumers to enjoy different flavors of coffee from all over the world with friends and family without leaving home. This is the competitive advantage of Nespresso.

In addition, in the production of coffee capsules, we adopt a closed aluminum capsule design to isolate coffee from air, light and moisture to avoid oxidation of fresh coffee powder. At the same time, the capsule design protects the aroma of the coffee itself.

EW: how will Nespresso's strategy for the Chinese market be different from that of other countries?

One of the important reasons for JMD:Nespresso 's global success lies in its business model. Our brand positioning and the quality of our products are unified globally, and the focus of development is to provide the same quality coffee to global consumers. Whether it is machine or capsule coffee, it is unified around the world. However, for different markets, we have their own targeted development strategies. In many countries in Europe, people have the habit of drinking coffee. They like to drink espresso without sugar or milk. However, for the Chinese market, drinking coffee is still a new culture, which can not be compared with foreign countries in terms of consumption alone. Moreover, Chinese people prefer to add milk, sugar or other seasonings to their coffee. Therefore, our daily marketing strategy will be adjusted most appropriately according to the needs of customers in the local market. For example, the display of Sanlitun boutique in Beijing is different from that of other boutiques. The fancy milk coffee made by the newly launched coffee machine can meet the needs of most Chinese consumers for coffee taste.

EW: in recent years, driven by Starbucks and Costa coffee chains, Chinese people have a deeper understanding of coffee. Will Nespresso consider developing its own brand in the chain market?

JMD: both Starbucks and Costa are coffee chains, and in that sense, Nespresso has no plans to open its own brand coffee chain. However, we have our own unique "out-of-home" development model, our customers will not be limited to using coffee machines to make coffee at home, but also can enjoy our coffee in many other places, and many five-star hotels and high-end coffee shops are using our machines and products.

The vigorous development of China's coffee market will be loved by all coffee practitioners, and we hope to lead Chinese coffee consumers to learn to appreciate coffee.

EW:Nespresso sells coffee all over the world. Based on the relevant data you have, what do you think is the future growth point of the Chinese market?

JMD: compared with many western developed countries, the level of per capita coffee consumption in China is relatively low, and the total consumption is also at a relatively low level, but this situation is constantly changing. I believe that in the next 5 to 10 years, we will see a substantial increase in per capita coffee consumption in China. In the past, coffee sales in China were more concentrated in first-tier cities such as Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou, but now there is an increasing demand for coffee in many second-and third-tier cities, such as Chengdu, Xiamen, Shenyang, Zhuhai and so on. We have also noticed that the eating habit of Chinese consumers is to eat less and eat more, and when they go shopping, they like to sit down and eat something to replenish their strength at any time. As a result, there are more and more bakeries in mainland China. Many consumers will have a cup of coffee when they enjoy dessert. These three points are the business opportunities in the future.

EW: which is more important for Nespresso, B2B or B2C?

JMD: as far as we are concerned, both B2B and B2C channels are very important, and both channels contain great commercial potential. In terms of B2B, we have partners such as five-star hotels and high-end restaurants; in terms of B2C, we prefer to provide services directly to end consumers. B2B and B2C are indispensable, and each has its own emphasis. At present, the most important thing for Nespresso in China is to let consumers know the brand and get the best brand experience, and both channels can contribute to this goal.

What is EW:Nespresso 's attitude towards e-commerce?

JMD: e-commerce is a very special sales channel. But as far as Nespresso is concerned, we want to provide customers with a new one-stop service experience-when you come to a Nespresso boutique, you can see all the products, experience the complete brand and product line, and communicate more professionally with the coffee specialist. In addition, our customer relationship center can also bring high quality service to customers. At present, when the brand awareness has not reached a certain level, it is particularly important to establish a brand image. Nespresso as a high-end coffee brand, we focus on providing customers with high-quality personalized exclusive services, establish the concept of building a brand. As for other elements, they should be based on a perfect brand experience. Therefore, at present, we only carry out e-commerce business on the official website and will not accept any form of agency.

EW:Nespresso has recently been promoting the sustainable development project "Cup of Hope", one of which is to buy coffee beans directly from coffee farmers of origin. Yunnan and other places in China also produce very high-quality coffee. Does Nespresso have any plans to bring these places into the origin of coffee for cooperation?

JMD: back in 2004, Nespresso partnered with coffee growers from Yunnan to launch a limited edition coffee called Yunnan. This type of cooperation is usually reflected in the production of limited edition coffee. We have 23 regular coffee capsules, and on this basis, we will continue to develop new flavors of limited-edition coffee, with 4-6 limited-edition coffee launched every year. In addition to our cooperation with Yunnan, China, we have also launched a limited edition coffee from India this year.

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