Major Coffee Giants like Luckin and Starbucks Engage in Fierce Competition on Douyin

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The Rise of Douyin as an E-commerce Platform

As an app that has seen rapid growth in the past two years and exceeded 600 million daily active users in 2022, Douyin has gradually been regarded as a rising star in e-commerce platforms. Coupled with the tremendous energy Douyin has demonstrated in live streaming e-commerce, it has long become a must-compete territory for various beverage brands in recent years!

Coffee Brands Battle on Douyin

Recently, I browsed Douyin and found that almost all well-known beverage brands are running group buying promotions online, and the prices of drinks are ridiculously lower than those in stores or through mini-programs. Luckin, Starbucks, Manner, NOWWA, Tims, Heytea, Nayuki, and many others are engaged in fierce competition on Douyin, all launching various ultra-low-priced online packages and beverages.

Luckin's Innovative Marketing Strategy

Not long ago, Luckin gained popularity through its "male model group" in the Douyin live streaming room. Unlike typical live streaming rooms, Luckin directly set up a fashion show T台 in the live streaming room, where male models of different styles walked toward the audience holding coffees of various flavors. Many netizens commented on this live stream: for a moment, they didn't know whether to watch the models or the coffee. Originally intended just as live streaming marketing, unexpectedly, Douyin group buying was also launched.

Various beverage brands have long since moved beyond being limited to private traffic channels and have begun to try more diverse expressions, aiming to capture more market share. Luckin's coconut latte, which averages 20 yuan per cup in their mini-program, is only 14.5 yuan through Douyin group buying. Its sales have reached as high as 640,000 cups, and it has even made it to the city coffee shop bestseller list.

Starbucks' Competitive Response

Also making the city coffee shop bestseller list is another coffee chain giant, Starbucks. Douyin group buying offers a 19 yuan breakfast combo and a 56.9 yuan/2-visits medium-sized specialty drink combo. For just 19.9 yuan, you can get a Starbucks beverage plus breakfast, and it's valid at all stores nationwide. This combo has sold as many as 862,000 cups. Additionally, there are many other combos to choose from.

On social platforms, Starbucks fans mentioned that in the days following the launch of group buying coupons, the Starbucks stores they frequently visit obviously felt business was better than before, mostly due to Douyin group buying coupon redemptions.

Tea Brands Join the Price War

Besides coffee chain brands, Heytea and Nayuki are also fighting price wars through Douyin group buying. Heytea's Douyin flagship store shows that through Douyin group buying, you can get a super-large barrel of passion fruit-grape/duck-shit-flavor lemon pound tea for just 15.8 yuan (2 choices). Not only that, earlier it even launched two cups of their classic bestseller - "Flesh Grape" for only 28 yuan, and a grab coupon for a 100 yuan 10-visit consumption card. This averages out to just 10 yuan per cup... at this price, who wouldn't say it's a great deal.

Nayuki launched a 9.9 yuan coffee series with 4 choices. Whether it's latte, cappuccino, or Americano, they're all just 9.9 yuan. Once this price was released, the sales of this single item directly exceeded 1 million orders. Besides those mentioned above, earlier there was even Mixue's 0.1 yuan ice cream, and Hushang Auntie's entire drink menu at 14% off, and so on...

The Douyin Beverage Market Boom

Earlier, the Douyin Tea Consumer Data Insights Report showed that in 2022, the number of tea-related content and views on Douyin showed a month-by-month increasing trend. Comparing June to January, the number of Douyin tea content videos increased by 58%. In June alone, related content views exceeded 14.7 billion, receiving over 280 million likes.

The strategies of various beverage brands may be intended to increase local exposure through Douyin group buying, then use their specialty products and sufficiently favorable prices to attract orders, complete in-store consumption and repeat purchases, and transform online traffic into effective in-store traffic. Finally, have you all had experience with Douyin group buying?

Image source: Internet

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