China's First Dior Café Opens! Masters Invoked to Worship the God of Wealth in English?

Luxury Brands Entering the Coffee Business

It's no longer news for luxury brands to open coffee shops. Last year, when Shanghai's Qiantan Taikoo Li opened, it announced that the area would welcome China's first Dior café. However, since the Qiantan Dior store opened, it has been operating as a pop-up shop, undergoing two theme changes, with no news about the coffee shop.

It wasn't until July 31st of this year, after the third theme change, that this Dior pop-up shop officially became a flagship store, and China's first Dior café officially opened.

But unexpectedly, what attracted public attention to the grand opening of the Dior flagship store and coffee shop was neither the upgraded store design, product displays, nor the exquisite afternoon tea in the coffee shop, but rather a scene where even Western brands couldn't escape Eastern mysticism.

From a shared photo by a netizen, on the joyous occasion of becoming a flagship store and opening the first brand coffee shop in mainland China, Dior invited a master to worship the God of Wealth?!

From the pictures, we can see that inside the store, a red table was set up with properly caramelized roast suckling pig arranged in formation. While everyone paid respects and made bows, the master clasped their hands together, hoping the God of Wealth would bring good business to the store.

This contrast between Western brand and Eastern customs left some netizens saying it was truly "Diao" (a pun on Dior). And Dior wasn't the only surprising case.

Some sharp-eyed netizens commented, "I'm familiar with this master! LV and Gucci stores also invited him for their openings!" He could be considered the go-to master for many luxury brand flagship store openings in China!

Instantly, what kind of exquisite afternoon tea Dior café offered no longer mattered! Netizens were more concerned about whether the master prayed to the God of Wealth in Chinese or English... The original poster also mentioned that since this was an act of cultural adaptation, the master spoke English.

(The God of Wealth, upon hearing this, probably thought: "Thank you, thank you very much~")

Since the coffee shop is still in its trial operation phase, it only offers desserts and coffee to customers who make in-store purchases. Therefore, Dior hadn't promoted the coffee shop opening much beforehand. Dior probably never expected that the China region Dior café would become known to everyone in this way.

Luxury Brands and Coffee Culture

The brand has opened multiple coffee shops in the Asian region, located in South Korea, Japan, and Malaysia. Originally, like other regions, China's coffee shops would attract netizens due to their upscale dining environment and exquisite afternoon tea. Who would have thought that in China, it would be the roast suckling pig and the English-speaking master that brought it into the spotlight...

Of course, the purpose of luxury brands opening coffee shops is not to join the coffee industry competition, but to shorten the distance between the brand and consumers by providing more different types of consumption scenarios. Through diversification of products and services, they increase connections with customers, marking luxury brands' active embrace of mass consumers.

Entering the coffee sector is more about experiencing social scenarios and extending brand scenarios. Coffee shops have historically played a good connecting role among people, matters, and things. Coffee shops not only convey the brand's culture and philosophy but also allow consumers to immerse themselves in the brand's atmosphere during dining, gaining a deeper understanding of the brand.

Compared to the brand's products, the threshold for coffee and dessert consumption is lower, attracting more new and young customers. It prevents more young consumers from feeling a distant sense of alienation due to the brand's traditional positioning.

This God of Wealth worship ceremony was similar ~ the good intentions were real, and so was the marketing. Through this very down-to-earth opening ceremony, mass consumers felt that luxury brands could actually be so approachable.

Image Source and Credits

Image source: Internet

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