E63: How does Luckin Coffee open 1000 new stores every month?!

In Luckin Coffee’s latest 2023 Q4 report, the company revealed that it opened 2,975 stores in Q4 - almost 1,000 stores every month.    The report also unveiled that Luckin has overtaken Starbucks in terms of sales in China. But is Starbucks genuinely their primary competitor in China? If not, who holds the title of Luckin's main competitor in China?   In this episode, we are joined by our in-house coffee expert, Weihan. Together, we dive into: The rationale and methodologies driving the rapid expansions of both Luckin and Cotti; Luckin’s success in digitalisation and data collection, as well as the feasibility of other brands replicating such a model; Some key considerations for coffee (or F&B) brands as they expand out of China into Southeast Asia.  Featured materials: Coffee in Southeast Asia, Momentum Works Sip, Innovate, Repeat: Immersive Workshop, Momentum Academy We did a poll with 1,300 community members on Luckin’s performance in Singapore, TheLowDown Luckin’s latest Singapore outlet mirrors its China stores, TheLowDown “Disgraced” Luckin founder started a new coffee chain in China, TheLowDown