7-Eleven Now Selling Geisha Coffee?!!

According to Taiwan media reports, 7-ELEVEN convenience stores managed by Uni-President Group announced on the 22nd the launch of three limited-time Geisha coffee varieties, priced between TWD 250 to 500 (approximately RMB 57-114)! However, they are only available in 18 stores that feature specialty coffee zones, and quantities are limited.

Since 2004, 7-ELEVEN in Taiwan has been in the business of fresh-ground coffee. As more consumers in recent years have begun to value coffee origins, varieties, and flavors, they started adding specialty coffee zones to their stores beginning in 2018.

Compared to many independent specialty coffee shops, 7-ELEVEN's specialty coffee shops adopt a hybrid business model with significant advantages in product pricing. Their positioning is similar to Luckin Coffee, providing consumers with affordable specialty coffee. However, because their coffee products have always been very reasonably priced, the launch of these three Geisha coffee varieties immediately sparked heated discussions among netizens.

Some netizens think it's too expensive! They buy coffee at convenience stores for the affordability, but this price point seems really high! At this price, why not go to an independent coffee shop? Some netizens think it's great! Making Geisha coffee more accessible will encourage more people to taste better specialty coffee. Others believe that different strokes for different folks - no matter the price, as long as consumers feel it's good value for money, people will appreciate it.

One netizen joked that "Uni-President could make convenience store coffee surpass Starbucks!" (Starbucks in Taiwan is also managed by Uni-President Group, and their most expensive drink to date costs TWD 400/RMB 91).

Alishan Geisha Coffee Origins

The Geisha coffee launched by 7-ELEVEN this time comes from Alishan, specifically from Fengshan Village in Alishan (natural and honey processed) and from Alishan Douyu Xiang Geisha Estate. Among these, Douyu Xiang Geisha Estate won first prize for Geisha coffee beans in this year's "Alishan Coffee Estate Elite Exchange Competition," which became famous for its record-breaking Geisha coffee bean auction prices.

In this year's "Alishan Coffee Estate Elite Exchange Competition," a 5-kilogram bag of natural processed coffee beans from Zou Zhu Yuan was bid up to an astonishing TWD 520,000 (approximately RMB 118,000). Geisha coffee suddenly attracted widespread attention, and general consumers became more interested in Geisha coffee. 7-ELEVEN seized this opportunity to change people's perception of convenience store coffee.

Price Perception and Value

Looking at the pricing of these three coffees, it's actually not particularly high. Considering the difficulty of cultivation and yield of these varieties, the price offers excellent value for money. However, different consumers have corresponding perceptions of value and price for different brand images.

If such coffee beans and pricing were placed in an independent coffee shop or well-known coffee shop, it would seem very affordable. But when placed in a convenience store, it appears quite expensive. An influential convenience store brand selling Geisha coffee might seem "incompatible," but it's certainly not "unqualified" to sell it. 7-ELEVEN's entry might even leverage its advantages to influence pricing structures within the industry.

The Geisha Coffee Market

Today, Geisha coffee prices are incredibly high! In the decade since Geisha coffee became famous, auction prices have risen from $20+ per pound to $2500+ per pound. While its popularity has continued to grow, Geisha coffee has given general consumers a sense of being "unattainable."

However, this is merely human-driven value inflation. Undeniably, Geisha coffee beans taste significantly better than common specialty coffee beans on the market, but this doesn't mean all Geisha quality is top-tier, nor does it mean Geisha coffee beans from all growing regions must command premium prices.

Although Taiwan's Geisha coffee production is small and prices are relatively higher than other Taiwanese-grown coffees, this presents an excellent opportunity to "tell a story" to consumers.

Sustainability and Consumer Connection

As agricultural products, coffee is closely connected to nature. Today, many coffee consumers not only care about the traceability of coffee bean information but also hope that the products they purchase can contribute to the sustainable development of coffee-growing regions, continuously improving coffee bean quality.

7-ELEVEN understands that sustainability is one of the biggest factors in specialty coffee marketing. Therefore, they've adopted locally grown Geisha coffee beans, using approachable prices to tell more consumers the story of local cultivation and coffee farmers.

This not only allows consumers to feel a sense of participation within a reasonable spending range and provides an opportunity to enhance their lifestyle, but also enables the brand to change consumer perceptions and recognition, thereby gaining more development opportunities.

Image source: Internet

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