In the war on takeout subsidies, why do e-commerce platforms use tea and coffee to take the lead

Recently, the weather is getting hotter and hotter, and it is the peak season for water consumption. The ongoing war on takeout subsidies has given many consumers the joy of collecting wool. For example, if you open the interface of Taobao or Jingdong now and order a cup of milk tea or coffee, the price is enough to make people drop their jaws. On the Jingdong page, coffee and milk tea have become an entry point under the search column alongside supermarkets and buying medicines. A cup of standard iced American style only costs 5.9 yuan, while Mixue Ice City's double cups of blueberry kernels only costs 3.9 yuan. Taobao is also unambiguous. In my impression, Naixue's tea products starting at 20 yuan have been reduced to 7 yuan per cup, while the later aunt in Shanghai has a variety of products starting at 6 yuan. Faced with such a surging price offensive, consumers have no resistance. Some people will shout in their circles of friends, stop tempting me, I have become fat after drinking milk tea. But it turns out that most people enjoy it. On May 26, Taobao once released a war report, which showed that Taobao's flash purchase + hungry orders exceeded 40 million daily orders. It also specifically emphasized that 75% of non-tea drinks orders, but if you convert it, you can see. Orders for tea drinks (coffee) have reached 10 million. This raises two very interesting questions. First, what does it mean for the takeout subsidy war to reach the 5-yuan price band? Second, since everyone admits that the war on takeout subsidies is for instant retail, why do they unanimously choose tea drinks and coffee to take the lead? Matthew effect of subsidies Regarding the first question, we must first look at the industry background. The current industry background is that in the past more than a year, several new listed companies have emerged in China's new tea beverage brands. Including the previous Naixue tea, the number of listed companies in the entire new tea and beverage camp has reached 6. In April 2024, Chabaidao will be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. On February 12, 2025, Guming's listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange rang the bell, becoming the third mainland tea brand to be listed on Hong Kong stocks. On March 3, Mixue Group also landed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. On the first day of listing, it rose by more than 43%, and its market value exceeded 100 billion Hong Kong dollars. On April 17, Overlord Tea Girl was officially listed on NASDAQ in the United States, becoming the "first stock of new tea drinks in the United States." On May 8, the new tea brand "Aunt Shanghai" was officially listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. When all leading companies become listed companies, they will inevitably have stronger market price affordability and adjustment capabilities, and their financing capabilities will also be stronger. This is something that some regional brands and small and medium-sized brands cannot match. In one industry, all six leading companies entered the capital market. The last time was in the express delivery industry. In addition to Naixue's tea, which was launched earlier, the leading new tea companies in China all pay great attention to scale effects and cost-effective routes. On the one hand, stores are expanding rapidly. For example, the number of Aunt stores in Shanghai exceeds 9300, which is close to breaking the 10,000 store mark. For example, Mixue Ice City has both. According to the 2024 financial report, the number of stores has reached 46479 at the latest, far leading the world. At the same time, the price of the main product is below 10 yuan. The scale effect also means that it is easier for leading new tea and beverage companies to dilute their operating costs and various expenses, so they are more able to withstand pressure when encountering price wars. It is worth noting that compared with the scale effect of new tea drinks, the stores of many coffee brands are not expanding fast. Currently, in the coffee market in China, Lucky, Cudi and Starbucks rank among the top three, among which Lucky and Cudi both have more than 10,000 stores. But the gap behind it and the top three is relatively large. The number of Lucky Coffee stores is about 4000, the number of Nova Coffee stores exceeds 2000, and Manner and Tims have both passed the threshold of 1000. Costa Coffee, which is well known among white-collar workers, has less than 500 stores in the mainland market. Overall, coffee chain brands are no longer on the same level as new tea brands in terms of scale effect. On the other hand, when prices are pulled to a very low level by the platform, from the perspective of consumer psychology, it is easier for consumers to choose big brands or brands they are familiar with. In the current war on takeout subsidies, the price of a cup of milk tea has reached a price war of 5 - 6 yuan. What does this mean? This means that the lowest price for a cup of milk tea at around 10 yuan has dropped to the price of bottled water in convenience stores. At this time, consumers will naturally have some concerns about food safety while collecting wool. Compared with brands with relatively small popularity, chain brands that open stores across the country will have higher trust. The Matthew effect has reappeared this time in the field of coffee and new tea drinks. The gap between the two battlefields Of course, from a brand perspective, the terminal price caused by subsidies is too low, which will obviously have a profound impact on the market development of coffee and new tea drinks. Some commentators pointed out that in the past, people thought that the 10-yuan price band of Mixue Ice City was already a low-priced "floor". Facts have now proved that there is no minimum in the price war, only lower. When the current subsidy price can discount Mixue Ice City's 10-yuan price band by half, it will not only Mixue Ice City will be injured, but it will also make other brands nervous about how to catch up with consumers 'low unit prices in the future. Continued expectations. However, for e-commerce platforms, choosing new tea drinks and coffee as trump cards to launch the grand strategy of instant retail is obviously thoughtful. Whether it is Jingdong or Taobao, when launching a takeout war, we must consider the existing competitive landscape in the market. This competitive landscape is from a supply-side perspective, although takeout and instant retail have many similarities, such as capacity management and dispatch algorithms. But back from a consumer perspective, the separation between the two markets is still obvious. An essential difference between instant retail and traditional shelf e-commerce is that scenarios have a great influence on consumption decisions. The so-called consumption scenarios include not only physical space, but also the concept of time. In the past, classic takeout scenes were mainly lunch and dinner periods. On weekdays, the lunch hour was the core battlefield. At the same time, the first thing to ignite consumer demand