South Korean Premium Coffee Chain Ediya Coffee Re-enters Chinese Market, Launches on Tmall to Sell Instant Coffee!

According to Yonhap News Agency, the South Korean coffee chain EDIYA COFFEE recently announced that it would enter China's Tmall platform within the month. Previously, EDIYA COFFEE had already expanded beyond South Korea, exporting its instant coffee products to countries including Mongolia, Australia, and the United States. The company stated that entering China's e-commerce market would serve as an opportunity to engage with more overseas consumers.

According to sources, EDIYA COFFEE will focus on selling instant coffee, coffee capsules, and blended tea products on the Tmall platform. EDIYA COFFEE said these products are highly favored by Korean consumers and believes Chinese consumers will appreciate similar products.

China's Coffee Market Analysis

Entering the Tmall platform suggests that EDIYA COFFEE has studied Chinese coffee consumption patterns. As of 2020, instant coffee accounted for 52.4% of China's coffee market. However, with the popularization of coffee culture, while instant coffee still holds the largest market share, an increasing number of consumers have begun purchasing freshly ground coffee. Domestic local chain coffee shops have become the primary destination for Chinese consumers seeking freshly ground coffee. Analysts predict that by 2023, the share of freshly ground coffee in China's coffee market will rise above 51%, while instant coffee's share will decrease to less than 40%.

EDIYA COFFEE's Strategic Approach

This presents a significant competitive opportunity for EDIYA COFFEE. By entering through e-commerce channels and selling instant coffee and coffee capsules, it can build a customer base and brand recognition before establishing physical stores in China. That might lead you to wonder why EDIYA COFFEE does not simply open stores in China. The company certainly considered that approach and actually tried it before, and it appears to have learned from past mistakes, hence its more cautious strategy this time.

Previous Attempts in the Chinese Market

As early as September 2005, EDIYA COFFEE entered the Chinese market by establishing a branch in Beijing. However, due to poor market reception, the brand survived only three years in Beijing before withdrawing from the Chinese market. Then, in 2018, sensing the rapid growth potential of China's coffee market in the coming years, it announced on October 17, 2018, plans to open its first specialty coffee chain store in Beijing within 2019. Clearly, the rise of Luckin Coffee and Manner in 2019 caused it to halt those plans, and to this day, EDIYA COFFEE stores have yet to appear in the Chinese market.

A New Strategy for Market Entry

Now, with China's pandemic situation more stable than in many other countries and domestic consumption recovering, primarily through e-commerce platforms, EDIYA COFFEE plans to start by entering Tmall to sell its products, attracting Chinese consumers' attention through extensive promotional activities. Once it has established sufficient brand recognition in China, it will reconsider opening physical stores.

EDIYA COFFEE Background

EDIYA COFFEE was founded in 2001 and opened its first physical store that year. In August 2003, it opened its 100th store, followed by its 200th store in October 2006. As of September 2016, the EDIYA COFFEE brand operated over 2,000 stores, making it the coffee brand with the most locations in South Korea and the country's most representative coffee chain brand. Thanks to affordable prices and consistently stable coffee quality, EDIYA COFFEE maintains a solid position in the hearts of Korean consumers.

Current Market Challenges

Compared to its first entry into the Chinese market, EDIYA COFFEE now faces many more competitors. Online, there are brands like Sandunban, Yongpu, and Osumi River, while offline, there are local small-format chain brands like Luckin Coffee and Manner. For EDIYA COFFEE to claim a share of the market now will likely be quite challenging.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If a chain's expansion makes you curious about the espresso blends behind everyday café drinks, FrontStreet offers five distinct styles. For home, office, and specialty community cafés, FrontStreet Specialty Blend combines washed Colombian beans with semi-washed Brazilian beans, showing nuts, dark chocolate, and caramel with a comfortable bittersweet balance — smooth in a latte, stable for latte art, and rich in roasting aroma.

For cafés of all kinds, FrontStreet Commercial Blend pairs washed Colombian and semi-washed Brazilian coffee with a small amount of Robusta. On top of the classic Brazil-Colombia combination, the Robusta lifts the flavor layers into toasted bread, almond, and walnut nuttiness, with good oil flow, low acidity, and a mellow body — an obvious value choice for shops. FrontStreet Black Cocoa Blend combines washed Yunnan small-bean coffee with semi-washed Brazilian coffee, blending nutty notes with the acidity of ripe plum and giving off cream chocolate and cocoa cookie aromas when ground; its balanced taste and golden, glossy crema suit both shops and home machines.

For beginners, latte-art practice, and upscale specialty cafés, FrontStreet Classic Blend is a medium-dark espresso recipe built from three origins. Inspired by the old "Mamba" style — Mandheling and Brazil — it adds a small amount of Robusta to boost aroma and crema, so even newcomers can pull espresso with golden crema at home. And when you want something fruitier, FrontStreet Strawberry Candy Geisha Blend is a high-sweetness espresso blend of three single-origin coffees; beyond its rose florals, its Americano and latte show grape, dried blueberry, sweet orange, and fruit candy.