Taste for luxury: 5 cafes in China set up by top-notch brands
Moleskine, Joseph Ettedgui, Vivienne Westwood, Kiehl’s and Mercedes-Benz have set up coffee and dessert spaces in Beijing or Shanghai to draw customers
Food and drink, not fashion, is increasingly driving traffic into malls in China. With the soaring popularity of online shopping, developers have been forced to get creative in giving consumers reasons to visit brick and mortar spaces, and restaurants are always a huge draw.
In the last few years, retail brands from Gucci to Ralph Lauren have used a similar strategy to bring in foot traffic, and thus, the branded cafe trend was born. Luxury and lifestyle labels are enticing consumers with coffee, dessert, and a space to hang out. But in a market where trends are here one day and gone the next, can a brand really sustain a worthwhile experience by adding a coffee bar?
The success of Chanel’s Coco Café seems to suggest so. The brand set up a pop-up in Shanghai’s Aunn Café and ignited Chinese social media attention almost immediately. After waiting in line, for hours in some cases, visitors could nab a free coffee in exchange for trying three beauty products, including lipsticks, nail polish, and blush – hardly a hardship. Consumers were also encouraged to take pictures with a cute, pink Chanel logo to further fuel the hype online.
Long lines and the limited-time nature of the cafe likely added to its popularity, but many other brands have gone all in with a commitment to delivering treats alongside their regular product offerings. And it’s not just luxury brands either – some of the newest locally run multi-brand fashion and lifestyle shops, like Beijing’s Playlounge and Algorithm, and Shanghai’s Nininio, are incorporating cafes and restaurants in their spaces.
Yet, Chinese consumers are only becoming more discerning, and with more high-quality coffee options available to them in big cities, adding a cafe doesn’t mean the space will see positive results. In New York, even Tiffany’s recently debuted The Blue Box Café has received mixed reviews from mainland Chinese visitors, with some reporting service has been slow or the value of the food wasn’t worth it. What Tiffany’s and places like it can count on, though, is that Chinese customers will want to take pictures for their WeChat moments, and many thriving cafe-retail concepts are keeping that in mind when designing their spaces and dishes.
Below are five examples of cafes in China that illustrate what it looks like when fashion and lifestyle brands attempt to reach consumers through their stomachs.