Starbucks Got Hit by the 9.9 Yuan Coffee War—and Still Grew? Foreign Trade People, Wake Up.

When Starbucks’ “third place” collides with the delivery war, how does this global coffee giant fight the fiercest retail street battle ever? And how does its once-proud store model face the 9.9 yuan shock? Comment “Starbucks” if you saw this move. How is Starbucks actually doing under the delivery war? In Q3, Starbucks China delivered a surprise: China revenue up 8%, same-store sales up 2%. Meanwhile, a certain tea brand is nearly collapsing. From a Q2 2024 decline to today’s rebound, Starbucks China has started to fight back. Have you been squeezed by this kind of extreme competition? Comment “Squeezed.” No doubt, the past few years have been rough. Competitors open stores at shocking speed. Ultra-lean store models plus billions in subsidies from three major platforms. Tea and coffee have entered an age of extreme efficiency. Stores get smaller. Some are even store-in-store. Save on rent and labor, then fight the price war with a lighter load. Starbucks’ proud third place is usually 80–200 square meters. The contrast looks like a tank meeting a drone, or a convenience store meeting a lightning warehouse. Have you ever been crushed by this kind of efficiency? Comment “Crushed.” Last year I talked about why Starbucks doesn’t sell 9.9 yuan coffee. But today, the two models are even more clearly divided: one is the coffee business; the other is the café business. Starbucks not only insists on the café business, but keeps iterating—especially through the third place. These years, it has never stopped experimenting with diverse store formats. Recently, Starbucks partnered with Xiaohongshu (RedNote) to create interest-based community spaces. Around four themes—pets, crafts, cycling, running—it selected more than 1,800 Starbucks stores nationwide, refreshed and upgraded them, added themed activities and services, and handed them to partners with the same interests to run. The Xuhui Riverside store is a dog-walking holy site. As a pet-friendly space, bring your furry kid and get a free Puppuccino—a little cup of whipped cream, no espresso. You can also join adoption days, pet parties, and other events organized by store partners. The Beijing Shougang Park store: the park itself is all about cycling. The store now has bike racks, easy pumps, free water refills, and cycling events. The Hangzhou Canal Shangjie store became a runner-friendly community, offering free size upgrades. Runners can meet and start running right there. These stores encourage check-ins posted to the Xiaohongshu community, turning store visits into online content. Have you taken your pet to Starbucks? Do you cycle or run? Does your city have stores like this? Comment below. The partnership is interesting: both are “artsy youth,” neither is good at billion-yuan subsidies or delivery wars. Starbucks stores are communities; Xiaohongshu is also a community platform. One connects customers online through interests, uplifting the experience; the other uses interests to draw people offline, sparking content creation that feeds the online interest community. Through this mutual embrace, we can re-examine the value of Starbucks’ third place in content and experience. Starbucks stores never lack content. Search Puppuccino—such a free little cream cup has created so much organic buzz. Search “Starbucks study”—many say they can only study after going to Starbucks. Search “Starbucks crafts”—all kinds of wild ideas. There are memes too: Mayday fans call it “Xingzi,” and there’s the recurring “secret menu.” Every new interest point adds a tag that automatically generates quality content. And the delivery war cannot change the experiential value of the third place. Coffee is not just a drink; it represents connection. A coffee meetup is a 30-minute to 1-hour meeting. Video calls cannot replace it. Interest communities add a reason to go to the space and deepen the relationship with the community. That’s what they want most. These stores already had people walking dogs, running, cycling, doing crafts. Now partners with the same hobbies customize services and experiences for them. Naturally, it becomes the first choice for like-minded people to meet. Do you look for local cafés when you travel? Is your city full of cookie-cutter chains? Comment “Coffee.” This year Starbucks introduced a strategy called Back to Starbucks, re-emphasizing direct interaction between baristas and customers, correcting the “coldness” brought by over-digitalization. Howard Schultz has spoken on many occasions about the relationship between Starbucks and the community—something far beyond profit. These are rare things in this era. Content and experience, purely from today’s coffee business financial model, are definitely not the optimal solution. But the delivery war will end one day. What will we see after subsidies end? Coffee brands have tens of thousands of stores, looking similar, products similar, prices similar. Their price war will never end. Such fierce competition may be making Starbucks realize what really is the key to differentiation. How can Starbucks become a better Starbucks? Many of my friends, foreigners visiting China for the first time, are surprised at some Starbucks Reserve stores—Is this still Starbucks? The third place remains Starbucks China’s ace, and may even redefine the café business. Beyond business, I personally believe cafés have humanistic value. Chen Danyan wrote Is Coffee Bitter? Cafés and urban culture are symbiotic. Every time I travel for work, I look for nearby cafés to feel the vibe. Shanghai needs no mention—all kinds of owner-operators; Guangzhou cafés love special blends; Beijing cafés once had a “climb up and remove roof tiles” trend. Even in scenic areas, Starbucks in Lijiang, at LEGOLAND Resort, and on Jeju Island leave deep impressions. Of course, in some cities you only see cookie-cutter malls and delivery-only chain coffee shops, which is somewhat disappointing. In his 1997 autobiography, Howard Schultz said: “We are not in the coffee business serving people. We are in the people business serving coffee.” Today, Starbucks’ original intention hasn’t really changed. Which city has the best café culture? Comment below. Foreign trade is the same. Platform price comparison, AI cold emails, automated follow-ups—these are foreign trade people’s delivery war. Extreme efficiency, extreme low prices, suffocating. But foreign trade is not only a selling business; it’s a relationship business. Customers don’t just buy specs and prices; they buy trust, experience, and feeling understood. Trade shows, visits, offline salons, and like-minded circles are foreign trade people’s third place. Do you value price or trust more? Comment “Trust” or “Price.” So here comes Sente Club. Sente Club hosts a Cross-Industry Resource Salon every Tuesday, with people from all industries. Every Thursday, Sente English Corner is jointly run by foreigners, foreign-company professionals, international students, and foreign trade people. Every Friday, an exclusive Medical Devices + Pharma Resource Salon, Sente Private Circle, where proven B2B foreign trade and cross-border e-commerce practitioner members from Xinyan Community, or cross-industry alliance brand globalization practitioners, share real insights. Time is TBD, but once 12 foreign trade people pay, we’ll open a weekend class soon to share foreign trade insights. Want to hear practitioners live? Do champions around you love offline events? Comment 666. To consult & register, add WeChat: XYST2006. Comment 666, or send a message in the chat box for more details. Price wars end. Trust doesn’t. AI can write cold emails; it can’t write trust. Platforms can compare prices; they can’t compare resonance. Don’t let extreme efficiency eat your differentiation. See you at Sente. Follow Sente Club for more real offline foreign trade meetups, English corners, and resource salons. 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