This collaboration with Luckin Coffee is definitely a step above Moutai’s reach!

In the past two days, Luckin Coffee launched a hot-selling product that has become popular all over the Internet - Maotai Latte. From the elderly who love Maotai to the young people who yearn for Maotai, everyone is buying it. Why is this joint brand so popular? What are the advantages and impacts for both brands? Let's take a look!

"It's exploded, Luckin Coffee has exploded. When I went to get my coffee this morning, it was so crowded that I couldn't even stick my head in."

At 9 a.m. on September 4, an ordinary Monday morning rush hour, Zhou Zhou ordered a cup of "Sauce Flavor Latte" jointly produced by Luckin Coffee and Moutai. When he arrived at the store, he saw that the current number called was 189, while his cup was numbered 285.

The busy Luckin sister smiled from ear to ear: "No. 285, then come and pick it up after 10 o'clock!"

"It's at least an hour later than usual to pick up the food." Zhou Zhou said that she is a big fan of Luckin Coffee, and during the usual morning rush hour, it only takes her two subway stops from placing the order to picking up the food.

Today, "I finished my morning meeting and digested my breakfast before I got my sauce latte."

We knew it would explode, but we didn’t know it would explode this much. In the trending searches and WeChat Moments, the joint latte of Luckin Coffee and Moutai has become a topic that workers today have to discuss.

Some people said that Moutai's huge traffic was unexpectedly taken advantage of by a "poor boy" like Luckin Coffee, and believed that this was Luckin Coffee "marrying into a wealthy family."

Some people also say that the reason why Moutai did not collaborate with Starbucks but chose Luckin Coffee is because people who drink Starbucks have to drive and are afraid of drunk driving, while people who drink Luckin Coffee have to squeeze into the subway.

Between the lines, there is an atmosphere of "Luckin Coffee is competing against Moutai".

We asked this question to Wen Xinyiyan, and its answer was very pertinent: the collaboration between Moutai and Luckin Coffee can be said to be a mutual attempt to climb higher.

But in the view of AI Blue Media, Luckin Coffee’s collaboration with Moutai is really Moutai’s attempt to surpass Luckin Coffee.

1. Moutai is on par with Luckin Coffee

One thing that needs to be made clear is that before Moutai and Luckin Coffee cooperated, Moutai had never been "co-branded".

Although Moutai had tried its hand at ice cream earlier, Mengniu and Zhongjie could only be regarded as OEM manufacturers of Moutai ice cream, and the ice cream products exported were still dominated by the "Kweichow Moutai" brand.

The main product of the sauce-flavor latte co-branded with Luckin Coffee this time is Luckin Coffee, not Moutai Liquor.

The fact that Moutai has lowered its profile to cater to Luckin Coffee also shows, to a certain extent, that this collaboration is Moutai's attempt to "climb above" Luckin Coffee.

Why does Moutai want to compare itself to Luckin Coffee?

Its intention is also very clear: to get close to young people, embrace young people, and own young people.

Luckin Coffee is indeed a good target.

First of all, Luckin Coffee has laid out a large and deep plate. On June 5 this year, Luckin Coffee announced that it had 10,000 stores nationwide. Most people who drink Luckin Coffee are young people who need to refresh themselves. Among them, their understanding of Moutai is only at the level of understanding, not consumption.

Moutai is very anxious because at this stage, it has only conquered middle-aged people and has not yet reached young people.

This collaboration with Luckin Coffee can create a new niche in the "soy sauce-flavored latte" market, allowing young people to spend 19 yuan to experience the charm of the soy sauce flavor. At least it has attracted traffic and allowed young people to try it: Oh, this is what Moutai tastes like.

Secondly, Luckin Coffee has long been an old driver in the joint venture business, and Moutai needs the guidance of an old driver.

A few days ago, Luckin Coffee and the internationally renowned lingerie brand Victoria's Secret staged a pink collaboration. The cup sleeve with pink wings captured the hearts of thousands of girls.

Today, Luckin’s sauce-flavored latte has swept the entire internet, further broadening Luckin’s user base: it not only aims to attract young people, but also the old men who are addicted to Moutai.

It can be "Young People's First Cup of Moutai" or "Goodbyes' First Cup of Coffee".

A middle-aged male leader who usually only drinks tea and not coffee also treated his office colleagues to a sauce-flavored latte for the first time and gave it a thumbs up.

Furthermore, one is a national liquor with a market value of 2.34 trillion, and the other is a national coffee that beats Starbucks. Although Moutai is expensive, it is not in line with the trend of young people. The role of Luckin is to make Moutai in line with the trend of young people without lowering its price.

With the combination of these two major traffic sources, Moutai is sure to make a profit.

Finally, social bragging always works. Someone boasted in a low-key manner in the circle of friends: "I'm so drunk that I don't want to eat lunch. Even my burps taste like Moutai."

Although consumers do not have a lot of money, they are still willing to spend money on small things that please themselves.

2. Ambition beyond 9.9

In fact, when the news of Luckin Coffee’s collaboration with Moutai was revealed in the market last week, the AI ​​Blue Media editorial department discussed the pricing of this “Sauce Flavor Latte”.

"Will you also join the anti-DI army on 9.9?"

"Not at all. Moutai latte will only be sold for 19.9, but people will bite the bullet and try it for 29.9."

This morning, Luckin Coffee announced the answer: 19 yuan per cup. Even if you order through group buying channels, each cup will not be less than 17 yuan.

It is easy to understand that Luckin Coffee does not want to raise prices for this product or let consumers take advantage of it.

First of all, the cost has indeed increased. In Luckin’s promotion, the Maotai-branded Maotai-flavored coffee blends the classic 53%vol Maotai liquor into the silky thick milk, and each cup contains Kweichow Maotai liquor.

Although netizens had doubts about this, its OEM factory Ningxia Cezanne Dairy immediately made a commitment: it promised that all the liquor raw materials in the raw material "baijiu flavored thick milk" were real 53-degree Feitian Moutai liquor purchased by Luckin Coffee.

What we know is that the suggested retail price of a 500ml bottle of 53-proof Feitian Moutai is 1,499 yuan, and the market circulation price is 2,500-3,000 yuan per bottle.

Even if Luckin Coffee purchases Feitian Moutai at the "joint price", the raw material cost of the sauce-flavored latte will only be higher than that of other flavors of latte.

A person in the packaging industry also pointed out that Luckin Coffee and Moutai’s collaboration was very sincere this time, and the “hot stamping” process was used on the packaging bags and cup sleeves, which greatly increased Luckin Coffee’s cost expenditure.

The combination of these "high-end" elements gives Luckin Coffee the confidence to sell a cup for 19 yuan, not to mention, "This is Maotai!"

Secondly, Luckin Coffee has now reached the stage of moving towards high-end.

There are now two close competitors to Luckin: Starbucks and CooDi.

Luckin is too familiar with Kudi. It has two strategies to fight it: one is to expand stores, and the other is to start a price war. The 9.9 yuan coupon will last until Kudi is no longer available.

But Starbucks is different. Luckin Coffee envies its average customer spending. Luckin Coffee also has ambitions beyond 9.9 yuan: to benchmark Starbucks, to oppress Starbucks, and to become Starbucks.

In an article previously published by AI Blue Media, “Luckin Coffee, the King of Rolling Stocks, and Its Humble Franchisees,” a franchisee pointed out: “Luckin Coffee not only wants you to be financially strong, but also wants you to have irreplaceable good locations and large stores in the local area.”

"Big stores" means that Luckin also wants to achieve high-end. And this collaboration with "high-end" Moutai is an important step towards high-end.

Author: Yang Lei; Editor: Wei Xiao

Source public account: AI Lanmeihui (ID: lanmeih001), a well-known new media reporting on AI and Internet industries.