The number of stores is about to exceed 1,000. Manner, the "King of Rolls", has a "small but beautiful" "refill" rule

This article analyzes the co-branding and marketing methods of the Manner brand, further dissecting the factors that led to Manner's successful development in a short period of time, and provides ideas for other brands to learn from. It is recommended for those who want to build a new brand.

Luckin Coffee and Moutai have joined forces to sweep the coffee market with their "Soy Sauce Latte"; Kudi Coffee followed closely with a cup of "Rice Latte"... If you ask who launches new products the fastest and has the most aggressive collaborations in the coffee market, Luckin Coffee and Kudi may be the first brands that pop up in the minds of most consumers.

But in fact, according to iBrandi's observation, there is actually an "invisible king" in the coffee market, and that is the seemingly unknown Manner: he does something once a week and gives away cups crazily.

The smoke of war on the coffee battlefield seems to have nothing to do with Manner. For example, as a boutique coffee brand, Manner’s number of stores is about to exceed 1,000. For another example, even if it does not collaborate with Moutai or Tom and Jerry, Manner can still make a big splash…

In fact, in the view of iBrandi, the “small and beautiful” style of Manner, the representative player of boutique coffee, will continue.

01 Collaborations and gift giving continue, Manner’s main theme is “reality”?

According to an incomplete analysis by iBrandi, from June to now, in just over three months, Manner has carried out more than 10 small-scale marketing actions, with a frequency of basically once a week.

It is also important to emphasize that Manner has a collaboration or "gift giving" event once a week, which is also accompanied by the launch of new products.

The most recent one was on the 17th, when Manner officially announced the launch of its new Tiramisu Latte. At the same time, it will also "give away 120,000 autumn outing gifts."

Specifically, anyone who places an order for a [double light cheese latte] or [double light cheese iced latte] set offline, on a mini program, or on a food delivery platform will receive a Manner autumn outing bag. Also, starting from the 19th, anyone who places an order for a [single designated light cheese latte] on a food delivery platform will receive a Manner picnic mat.

The so-called "autumn outing bag" is actually a nylon bag with the Manner logo printed on it. The picnic mat looks a bit "fragile", but it seems unable to stop consumers from chasing after Manner peripherals.

Since I didn’t notice the event on the 19th at first, I ordered a cup of Manner drink on the mini program at the same time on the morning of the 19th, just like every normal working day, and prepared to pick it up.

But it was not until I noticed that Manner's cup delivery speed began to slow down, and even the waiting time on the mini program was motionless, that I realized that the takeout orders that could get picnic mats had left Manner's staff with no time to take care of the self-service cups and pick-up orders on the mini program.

While waiting, iBrandi Pinchuang observed that every takeout order, in addition to the two cups of coffee, also included a picnic mat.

At the same time, Manner will inform every user who tries to place an order at the ordering counter that it will now take twenty minutes to place an order, and at least twenty more minutes. Is this acceptable?

Obviously, those old Manner users who work in the same building as Manner and bring their own cups can afford to wait, but some users chose to turn around and leave after hearing "at least twenty minutes later".

In fact, whether it is the picnic mat this time, or the three consecutive weeks of cup giving away by Manner on July 9, July 16, and July 25.

If giving away your own peripherals is a "small thing" for Manner, then its collaborations with some brands, although not as popular as the sauce-flavored latte on Weibo, can almost make Manner gain attention and discussion on social platforms.

Manner’s most recent collaboration with a brand was with Winona, where they directly gave away samples.

In that collaboration with Winona, Manner launched the new product "Osmanthus Latte" just in time for the arrival of autumn.

The gifts given in the collaboration are even more "real". In addition to the co-branded paper bags, according to Manner, the 355ml wine-flavored osmanthus latte is priced at 20 yuan and does not contain alcohol. The national limited release date is from September 11 to September 17, and a Winona chasing light gift box will be given away when purchased.

At the same time, Winona Clear Sunscreen Lotion is now available on the MANNER Points Mall. On September 11, a limited-time offer is available for 300 points to redeem a 50-gram full-size bottle of Winona Clear Sunscreen Lotion. From September 12, the 500-point redemption will be restored, with a limited quantity of 900 copies available, while stocks last.

Compared to other brands that only give out stickers, cup sleeves, co-branded paper bags, etc., Manner directly gives out "real" gifts. At one point, the mini program was opened to order at the same time. The waiting time and number of cups for Manner are generally about 5-6 cups, or even 1-2 cups. In the first two days of its collaboration with Winona, the mini program showed that the number of cups that needed to be waited for was more than 50 cups.

In iBrandi's view, if we use three keywords to summarize Manner's above "little actions", they are: limited time, the time line will basically not exceed one week, and the early bird gets the cup/peripheral goods.

The third and most important word is - real.

Whether it is Manner's collaboration with Winona, Pudong Art Museum and other companies, giving away samples, canvas bags, refrigerator magnets and other products, or Manner's travel cups, espresso cups, glasses, etc.

Compared to most other brands that only create cup sleeves, paper bags, stickers and other content during the collaboration period, Manner always chooses to "real" send out thoughtful and practical products.

Finally, although the frequency is high, Manner does not become casual in choosing co-branded partners because of the high frequency.

In the opinion of Xia Yunyang, a senior observer of new consumption, judging from the co-branded brands chosen by Manner, the target is still relatively strict.

"Manner probably hopes to attract Helena Rubinstein and LV customers, or customers who want to use Helena Rubinstein and LV, through the joint venture. These people are basically luxury consumers or light luxury consumers. Manner can provide them with the ultimate quality-price ratio. It is cheaper than Araby and tastes better than Luckin Coffee. At the same time, it can also meet consumers' pursuit of brand style."

To some extent, even if it engages in joint brands and wants to break the circle, Manner has never forgotten its original intention as a boutique coffee brand.

02 Involuted coffee, a small but beautiful Manner

So, what have these high-frequency marketing “small” actions brought to Manner? And what supports Manner’s every “small” action to attract users?

Infrastructure is the product, private domain is the bricks and tiles, and it is also the key to Manner's "small but beautiful" from beginning to end.

In the chain coffee market where speed is the key to success, no matter which city, no matter how many orders there are or whether there are queues, Manner is considered an "outlier" because it "insists on using semi-automatic equipment" and "insists on making latte art on its milk coffee products."

In addition, Manner has always insisted on using a larger amount of powder (21.5g), only using coffee beans that have been roasted within 20 days, and using cold fresh milk with a short cold chain... This means higher storage and transportation costs, but on the other hand, it means better boutique coffee quality and boutique coffee experience.

Also, although Manner will launch new products in stages.

Manner, which was once favored by Xu Xin and invested in, has been rumored to be going public, but in the end, it came to nothing.

The reason may be that this is inconsistent with Han Yulong's (founder of Manner) original intention to focus on product quality. After all, capital cares more about store operating efficiency, expansion speed and the replicability of the business model.

As Xia Yunyang, a senior observer of new consumption, said: "Specialty coffee is ultimately a niche game for a few people. Most people can't taste the difference in coffee, or they can taste it but are too lazy to pursue higher quality. Therefore, specialty coffee is not suitable for participating in the capital game."

As for every brick and tile built on the product, they are every private user of Manner.

As we all know, Manner always pays more attention to the operation of private domain users than the public domain.

Specifically, Manner's private domain is mainly built around the WeChat ecosystem, with three key parts: official accounts, mini-programs, and communities.

Needless to say, the official account is Manner’s main promotional window for both new product launches and “gift giving”. According to public data, the number of fans of the official account has already exceeded one million.

The function of mini programs is more to take orders.

The community is the bridge and main place for Manner to communicate with users. In particular, the community is not open to online users, and users can only join the community by scanning the code in offline stores. Therefore, a closed loop of community conversion-online ordering-offline delivery can be formed, which can also guarantee a certain degree of repurchase.

According to Mingliang's previous research: Each Manner store usually has only one WeChat group, and the average number of people in each community is about 260. Based on Manner's existing 900+ stores, it can be estimated that the total number of community members is nearly 250,000.

Finally, let’s talk about the public domain. Xiaohongshu and Douyin are typical representatives.

On Douyin, even in the past two years when brand-run live broadcasts were the most popular, Manner only opened a brand-run live broadcast room and did not carry out large-scale advertising. It was just a channel for selling goods.

Compared with Douyin, Xiaohongshu is more important to Manner because it can bring it natural traffic and topics.

For example, let’s go back to Manner’s weekly promotion. Although they don’t make a big splash in the market, every time they give out gifts, they don’t actually need to actively promote it. Manner’s users will bring them traffic on social media.

Even though the reviews of the gifts given out seem to be somewhat mixed, these are still topics and traffic that Manner has gained. Currently, Manner has more than 130,000 notes on Xiaohongshu.

How important is private domain to Manner?

"Doing a good job in private domain means Manner can get rid of its dependence on local life platforms. It means it can cut advertising budgets and not pay protection fees to Meiya and Ele. It means continuous repurchase." Xia Yunyang, a senior observer of new consumption, told iBrandi Pinchuang: "Coffee is a high-frequency repurchase product. Once consumers get used to a certain brand, they will hardly choose other brands. Private domain is the basic foundation of coffee brands. It must be done."

In the view of iBrandi, Manner seems to always be in its own paradise in the fiercely competitive coffee chain market. It has also changed from the initial "small and beautiful" to "small but beautiful". That is, even if it does not participate in price wars, expansion wars, or money-burning wars, it can still develop sustainably and healthily.

03 Conclusion

It took Manner seven years to grow from a 2-square-meter stall to a chain store that is about to exceed 1,000 stores.

On September 30, Manner announced on its WeChat official account that the number of Manner stores will soon exceed 1,000. After breaking through 1,000, Manner will write a new story in the consumer market: the first brand in the specialty coffee field to have more than 1,000 stores. According to Zhaimen Canyan, Manner currently has 912 stores.

Will Manner remain small but beautiful? Will Manner enter the lower-tier markets and compete with other coffee chain brands? How will Manner expand in the future?

Only Manner himself knows the answer, but at this stage, "small but beautiful" may be the most suitable model for Manner to survive, and it is also the standard answer in the short term.

After all, the price is low, but not as low as Luckin Coffee and Coodi Coffee; the price is high, but not as high as Seesaw, M Satnd, and Peet’s Coffee; the sinking market is a thorny land... And Manner still wants to keep that cup of quality coffee and wants to attract high-end users...

Perhaps, as far as Manner’s current business model is concerned, the best “refill” rule is to attract die-hard fans of the brand in high-tier cities who really understand coffee and build a presence around them.