Crazy Expansion! NOWWA Coffee Opens 120 Stores Simultaneously

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NOWWA Coffee's Rapid Expansion

Recently, NOWWA Coffee announced on its WeChat public account the simultaneous opening of 120 stores. In addition to strengthening its presence in first-tier cities like Guangzhou, this batch of new stores has expanded to second and third-tier cities including Nanchang in Jiangxi Province, Jinhua in Zhejiang Province, Huangshan in Anhui Province, and Zhanjiang in Guangdong Province, among 10 cities total. According to reports from Jiemian News, in terms of regional distribution, East China accounts for 37% with 44 stores, while Central China has 30 stores, representing 25%. Notably, 38 stores were opened in third-tier cities, accounting for 32%.

Brand Strategy and Operations

NOWWA Coffee was established in Shanghai in June 2019, under Shanghai Lixing Technology Co., Ltd. Like Manner and Luckin Coffee, NOWWA Coffee follows an affordable pricing strategy, targeting working professionals in their twenties and thirties. The coffee prices are centered around 15 RMB, while also offering various products such as tea drinks, baked goods, and merchandise. With affordable and convenient beverage pricing, the brand has rapidly risen in the market.

In terms of operations, NOWWA Coffee has always placed greater emphasis on online sales. Earlier data indicated that revenue from online delivery channels accounted for over 75% of total revenue. Light-asset operation is one of the brand's characteristics, and it has now entered online platforms such as Ele.me and Meituan. NOWWA Coffee can be said to have precisely grasped young consumers' demand for coffee—affordable, tasty, convenient, and fast.

Strategic Collaborations

Additionally, it launches various co-branded coffees with IP, commercial brands, and cultural brands. For example, this year, NOWWA Coffee has successively collaborated with outdoor brand NORTHLAND to launch the new "Bottle Coffee," and also partnered with Chengdu's Chinese-style bun brand "Li Yubai" to introduce a limited "Eat Green Buns, Keep Green 'Horse'" Chinese breakfast set, both attracting significant consumer attention.

The Booming Coffee Market

The coffee market has been continuously booming in recent years. According to statistics, by 2025, China's coffee consumption market is expected to reach a scale of 1 trillion RMB. The expansion speed of coffee stores also reflects the heat of this sector. Most coffee chain brands in the Chinese market have shown ambitions for extensive store expansion.

Chain giants represented by Starbucks and Luckin Coffee are leading the coffee sector with absolute store advantages. On September 27th this year, Starbucks announced the opening of its 6,000th store in mainland China. At an earlier investor exchange meeting, Starbucks planned to add 3,000 new stores in three years, meaning reaching 9,000 stores by 2025. Besides these two giants, Manner, Seesaw, M Stand, NOWWA Coffee, and others are also receiving enthusiastic consumer support and are similarly accelerating their expansion.

NOWWA's Impressive Growth

NOWWA Coffee has been expanding its market through small-store express pickup and partnership models. In the first two years after its founding, the number of stores was still in single digits, but starting from last year, the number of stores began exponential growth. In June this year, NOWWA Coffee just opened more than 100 new stores at once, at which time the number of stores had exceeded 1,500, covering more than 50 cities. Now, less than half a year later, there is another news of 100 stores opening simultaneously. Is this planning to open stores in units of 100 in the future?

Following Starbucks and Luckin, according to data statistics, as of July this year, NOWWA Coffee ranked third in the total number of stores among domestic chain coffee stores. Currently, it has more than 1,700 stores nationwide, covering over 100 cities, which calculates to approximately 500 stores per year.

Keys to Success in the Coffee Industry

With the enthusiastic pursuit of young people today, coffee is in a critical period of popularization. The brands that can stay at the forefront of the industry have undoubtedly found the key to popularization—high-quality products, affordable prices, and operational models suitable for young consumers. More importantly, the founding team is full of passion for coffee and catering, willing to repeatedly optimize products from the consumer's perspective.

Image source: Internet

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