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Is there an opportunity to transform the retail industry in the cafe scene in third-and fourth-tier cities?

Published: 2026-04-05 Author: World Gafei

Last Updated: 2026/04/05, As the third space in people's life besides living and working, the value of cafes has long exceeded people's initial imagination. Under this background, a variety of characteristic cafes focusing on market segments have also begun to rise. Garage Coffee, 3W and mergers and acquisitions focus on Internet startups, and both Armani and Gucci have their own branded cafes. Just imagine.

As the "third space" in people's life besides living and working, the value of cafes has long exceeded people's initial imagination. Under this background, a variety of characteristic cafes focusing on market segments have also begun to rise. Garage Coffee, 3W and mergers and acquisitions focus on Internet startups, and both Armani and Gucci have their own branded cafes. Just imagine, if the afternoon tea social scene sinks to the domestic third-and fourth-tier cities, apart from catering, what commercial value can it be tapped? Some people want to create a "afternoon tea + offline experience store" model.

Retail is not easy to do, and WeChat businesses are also moving towards a bottleneck. To this end, AimeeLu, a beauty and skin care brand active on online platforms such as Taobao and WeChat merchants, is trying to go offline to break the deadlock it faces. Zhao he, co-founder of AimeeLu brand, opened a cafe with the theme of skin care experience in Loudi, Hunan province on Sept. 6.

Zhao he believes that according to his WeChat business's sales experience, "the separation of products and consumption" is a major difficulty in promotion: first, it is difficult to establish a new brand image in the minds of consumers; second, it is difficult to realize the experience of skin care products. Mailing experience will prolong the decision-making time and reduce the desire to buy. Third, several girlfriends take a nap in a cafe and may experience beauty and skin care projects together between talking and laughing, a phenomenon that does not occur in front-line retail.

On the one hand, the format of first-and second-tier cities is relatively saturated, storefronts and logistics costs are high, and the O2O model is still available in third-and fourth-tier cities; on the other hand, residents of third-and fourth-tier cities have a yearning for a new way of life. it is a fashionable consumption experience for girlfriends to enjoy afternoon tea together.

In response, AimeeLu tries to impress potential customers in third-and fourth-tier cities with "cafes that can share afternoon tea with their girlfriends", promoting their brand image, winning their trust and promoting their perceptual consumption of cosmetics with a comfortable environment, relaxed atmosphere, fashionable experience and intimate service. At AimeeLu Cafe, customers can experience AimeeLu skin care products while enjoying coffee desserts while shopping online or offline-the retail industry can be combined with coffee in addition to simply selling online, making it a distinctive and interesting element in offline cafes.

If you sink to a third-and fourth-tier city, does the coffee shop scene have a chance to transform the retail industry?

AimeeLu, which starts from WeChat business, already has a team of agents who come from all over the country and belong to various industries. Now, the original agents can try to buy back shares by joining AimeeLu Coffee, and unlike the new franchisees, they do not have to pay extra fees. At present, AimeeLu Coffee is being encouraged to join, and stores in Tianjin, Tangshan, Hefei, Wuhan and Yichang are being planned.

However, as a new attempt, if AimeeLu wants to go offline on a large scale, it will face the question of service: can the combination of "barista + clerk" in the store enhance the skin care experience? The image of "coffee shop clerk" is not clear and accurate, how to gain customers' trust in cosmetic products? If there are more franchisees, how to standardize the service in terms of makeup and coffee?

AimeeLu used the model of "offline experience to promote online consumption". On its first day of business, it reaped more than 6,000 yuan in turnover, of which skin care products accounted for nearly 70% of the revenue. This may show that in the context of the retail industry being eroded by e-commerce, the coffee shop scene, as the entrance to the flow, has some room for extension: whether from the shaping of the brand image, or from the radiation of the market scope, into the efficiency of consumption, the commercial value of the afternoon tea scene needs to be developed.

Of course, this "coffee shop +" does not necessarily add cosmetics, it may also be other consumer categories, the key is that the scene matches and the service is in place.

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