After the closure of Maxwell coffee’s Guangzhou factory a few years ago, the latest news of “change” came from Jacobs Douwe egberts (hereinafter referred to as JDE), who is in charge of the brand’s business in China. Xiaoshidai learned exclusively that JDE Changzhou factory was shut down a few days ago. In this regard, Frank Wang, general manager of Greater China of JDE, confirmed the above information in reply to the inquiry of snack agent, but also revealed the latest important production capacity arrangement in China – the establishment of a Chinese manufacturing center.
Almost at the same time, Peet’s coffee, a coffee chain that belongs to JDE Peet’s, is expanding in China. Previously, “expand China’s retail coffee shop business” was the company’s global growth strategy. JDE Peet’s is “the world’s largest pure coffee company”, and its two major shareholders are jab holding group and Yizi international. These changes may partly indicate that more new ideas are emerging from the company, which is “chasing Nestle hard” in the global coffee market, but “low-key and mysterious” in China. Now, let’s take a look at its latest plan.
Wuxi “superior”
Let’s take a look at the plant adjustments related to Maxwell. According to a JDE China notification obtained by the company, the company announced to local employees on September 24 that it plans to close Changzhou plant early next year. “It was a difficult decision, but I firmly believe it is an important step on our long-term growth path in Asia.” In the briefing, Lara brans, President of JDE Asia Pacific, said: “I would like to personally thank the Changzhou team for serving regional customers and consumers over the past 20 years. Our current priority is to support all employees affected by the closure and maintain the continuity of our business during this transitional period. “
It is worth noting that this factory is responsible for the production of products, including the well-known coffee brand “Maxwell” in the Chinese market. According to a Maxwell instant package produced in March this year, its client is Zhenyin Trading (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (Note: JDE’s operating entity in China), while the consignor is Changzhou Super Food Co., Ltd. Industrial and commercial data show that the latter shareholders are two JDE companies.
The snack agent browsed the flagship store of Maxwell tmall and noticed that at present, Maxwell’s products are still sold normally, and the basic series are basically from this Changzhou factory, including original instant, milk flavor instant, etc. The other series in the store are mostly imported products.
In the early years, when Maxwell’s Guangzhou plant was closed, JDE once said that the supply of Maxwell coffee in the Greater China market was transferred to the factory in Bangkok, Thailand. The same is true for this one. According to the JDE China Circular, most of the production at the Changzhou plant will be transferred to the Wuxi plant, and some will be transferred to other factories in Asia.
“In order to enhance the scale and focus of JDE’s regional production and supply chain network, the company carried out a detailed evaluation and decided to use Wuxi factory as the manufacturing center.” It said it would “focus on Wuxi to establish a Chinese manufacturing center” and pointed out that the change will further improve the capacity utilization of Wuxi factory, one of JDE’s largest factories, and become a platform to meet the growing coffee demand in China and the Asia Pacific region. On China’s market strategy, the company said: “JDE China is an important part of JDE’s regional growth goals, and will continue to be so in the future. Building a world-class regional supply network is an important step in maximizing growth opportunities in one of the fastest growing coffee markets in the world. “
“Two legs”
Although the production capacity layout has been adjusted again after several years, the gap between China’s packaged coffee business and Nestle’s is still huge, but the European coffee giant still seems to be committed to China’s coffee market.
In this year’s semi annual report, the Chinese market for home packaged coffee products achieved strong growth during the epidemic period. In addition, as introduced by the snack agent, JDE Peet’s opened an overseas flagship store in tmall last year to “expand ammunition” in China by introducing several brands and categories.
At that time, executives of the company pointed out that consumers could purchase JDE’s global products through “their favorite shopping platform”, whether it was freeze-dried coffee, fresh coffee beans, traditional roasted coffee and ground coffee, or new convenient coffee capsules.
在包装咖啡之外，JDE Peet’s也看好中国咖啡店生意。
小食代介绍过，2017年，该公司旗下的咖啡连锁“皮爷咖啡”通过与高瓴资本合作正式进入中国。在上半年筹备IPO时，JDE Peet’s还将“扩大中国零售咖啡店业务”明确列为落实增长战略的打法之一。
如今，这一计划也有了不少新进展。
首先是开店提速。小食代梳理发现，尽管今年疫情扰乱了市场，但是从今年5月开始，曾经“三年多只在中国开了13家店”的皮爷咖啡在短短不到半年内就新开了10家店，并首次进入南京及北京两个城市。据其公众号的最新门店信息显示，该品牌目前已开店24家，其中多数都位于上海。
其次是门店形态创新。例如，皮爷咖啡8月在上海开出了全国首家黑标店，这家陈列了多种咖啡豆的门店主打“咖啡博物馆”概念。
小食代还注意到，皮爷咖啡甚至声称要在中国开出其亚洲最大门店。据公众号“北京通州发布”消息，这家占地600平方米的咖啡店位于北京环球城市大道，即北京环球影城主题公园的主入口。
随着在门店扩张中积累了更高知名度，皮爷咖啡也开辟了包装咖啡业务并同步加码。
资料显示，皮爷咖啡在2018年开设了天猫旗舰店，最初售卖的是挂耳咖啡等。到今年，该品牌又正式推出了咖啡胶囊。目前，皮爷咖啡天猫店的在售产品还包括咖啡豆和咖啡器具等。从品类来看，皮爷咖啡与JDE旗下以速溶为主的组合形成了一定差异。
小食代还留意到，上述电商店销售的咖啡豆、挂耳咖啡及胶囊咖啡的生产厂家并非JDE Peet’s旗下工厂，而是一家名为“昆山弘惠食品有限公司”的第三方。对此，该店客服告诉小食代是“豆子进口，国内烘焙的”。
Fierce “fighting”
At present, JDE Peet’s has a relatively complete coffee business in China, with a layout in FMCG and catering business. However, on both sides, JDE Peet’s can not avoid the “double whammy” of old brands and emerging brands. For example, in the FMCG market, Nestle has expanded fiercely after forming a team with Starbucks. After the introduction of the “Starbucks home coffee” co operated by both sides last year to the mainland of China, the series launched its first instant coffee this year. In addition, Nestle coffee FMCG business also has two other “veteran”: Nescafe and Nespresso. In addition, there are, of course, a growing number of “new players.”. For example, it is also the main instant three and a half meals, and even “Coca Cola + Costa”. Today, the snack agent noticed that Coca Cola tmall flagship store has launched new Costa instant coffee products with different flavors recently.
In fact, JDE Peet’s, with a revenue of nearly 7 billion euro last year, is definitely a “heavyweight” player in the world, and has established a coffee empire with nearly 70 brands through a large-scale “buy buy buy”. But most of them are regional brands. In the Chinese market, the famous JDE Peet’s are old street market and Maxwell.
一方面，JDE Peet’s目前在中国销售的咖啡品牌并不算多，这意味着资源相当充足的它还能借助很多新品牌开拓市场。但另一方面，如果继续引进新品牌，如何实现差异化，避免自家品牌竞食是JDE Peet’s需要思考的重要命题。
至于咖啡店这一餐饮业态，JDE Peet’s的力量依然稍显单薄。据英敏特数据显示，2019年，中国现制咖啡市场销售额预计达426亿元人民币，现制咖啡门店数量预计达到12.6万家。
在这个容量庞大的市场中，前有要继续在中国“跑马圈地”的全球最大咖啡连锁星巴克，后有“组队”本土公司探索开拓中国市场的新晋海外品牌，像获腾讯数亿元投资并持股的加拿大Tim Hortons、与百胜中国联手开出亚洲首家官方咖啡店的意大利Lavazza等。同时，像Manner、Seesaw这类本土精品咖啡店也在冲击现有格局。
虽然咖啡连锁派别众多，但它们或多或少都有个相似的套路：讲咖啡的故事。这些故事可以是用来打动人心的品牌起源和理念，也可以是像豆子产地、烘焙方式和冲调手法这些与咖啡口味息息相关的内容。不过，无论属于哪一种，最后目的往往都是希望展现作为咖啡品牌的专业性和独特性。
而在中国市场，JDE Peet’s的皮爷咖啡更为人熟知的一面应该还是被称为“星巴克祖师爷”的名号，因为传闻星巴克三位创始人都是皮爷咖啡创始人Alfred Peet的徒弟。
不过，在市场不缺好故事的当下，这段历史暂时还没能为皮爷咖啡扩张带来很大的实质性推动作用，中国市场知道的人也不多。那么，咖啡连锁还可以怎么“突围”呢？
对此，英敏特曾提出两点建议。一是向消费者介绍咖啡豆知名产区/品种名称背后的含义，例如，来自知名产区/品种的咖啡豆得以远近闻名的原因，以及它们所具备的特点。二则是抓住植基风口，可以使用植物蛋白代替动物奶，满足消费者对植物蛋白乃咖啡的兴趣。
Will JDE Peet’s new move in China achieve its goal? Snacks generation will continue to pay attention.
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