In Part 1 and Part 2, I described my visit to several Luckin Coffee outlets and a couple strategies for how they can beat Starbucks in China – which is their stated goal. However, this isn’t really necessary. As their CEO Qian Zhiya has said, coffee consumption per capita in China is about 4-5 cups […]
Daniel Zipser is a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Co and is based in Shanghai. He leads the Consumer Packaged Goods and Retail Practices in Greater China. He recently gave a lecture at Peking University about Chinese consumers. My apologies for the poor camera work on this video. Think of it like a podcast. By […]
In Part 1, I detailed my visits to several Luckin Coffee outlets. This is an aggressive start-up that is opening striving to beat Starbucks in retail coffee in China. So my question for Part 2 is: can they do it? Let me rephrase that: Could Luckin Coffee take 20% of Starbucks’s current China business? And […]
There is a lot of buzz around “new retail” coffee chain Luckin Coffee in China now. They are opening at a blistering rate – about 800 outlets since their launch earlier this year. That’s 2-3 locations per day (including weekends). They are focusing strongly on digital and delivery – a “new retail” version of retail […]
Daniel Zipser is a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Co and is based in Shanghai. He leads the Consumer Packaged Goods and Retail Practices in Greater China. He recently gave a lecture at Peking University about Chinese consumers. My apologies for the poor camera work on this video. Think of it like a podcast. By […]
Some thoughts on why new retail in China is bigger and cooler than people think. Plus fun stuff around Italy. But first…consider joining my executive education course Jeff’s Asia Tech Class for deeper insights into China’s tech leaders from on the ground in Asia. There is a 30-day free trial. For those in China, you […]
A fun +2 hr interview in Beijing.
The “cluster” map shown above (and below) is originally by McKinsey & Co. I think it really illustrates three important points about modern China. Point 1: China today is a series of clusters, not a continent. China today is not yet an integrated continental economy. You don’t see infrastructure seamlessly connecting each part of the […]
Carlsberg beer in China is one of those business stories that everyone should know. Take a look at the below picture. It is of Carlsberg China circa 2002. This was after +15 years of business in the PRC. They had some imports but were still a tiny China operation overall. And they were facing increasingly […]
I’m really getting sick of the term “introvert”. It sounds like someone with a problem. Like someone who is anti-social. In contrast, “extrovert” sounds outgoing and engaging. Like the CEO or student body president. Yes, I admit some of us are pretty quiet in classrooms, at dinner parties and during corporate functions. Yes, we do […]