For China's new tea brands represented HE Tuber  by HeyTea, developed countries such as Europe, the United States, Canada and Australia are the second battlefield for "going overseas" after Southeast Asia: whether they are international students, new immigrants or local residents, they all have a strong interest in tea drinks. , the new tea drink market is growing rapidly.

 Mixue Bingcheng had already opened a store in Sydney, Australia. On February 12 this year, on the first day of trial operation of the Mixue Bingcheng Sydney CBD store, the store was full of people and the turnover exceeded 24,000 yuan. Due to strong demand and lack of manpower, stores occasionally encounter problems such as adding wrong toppings and juices.

For tea brands with high popularity and consumer recognition in China, entering the markets of developed countries where overseas students and new immigrants gather can be said to be "bringing their own traffic". They can quickly accumulate popularity with Chinese consumers and then launch it through Attract local consumers through localized products, social media operations and other methods.

 China want to open up markets in developed countries such as Europe, the United States, Canada and Australia. Their biggest competitors are the many milk tea and fruit tea brands from Taiwan, China - the road that new tea drink brands in mainland China are about to take in new markets, China Taiwan’s bubble milk tea brands have been through it before.

In the 1980s and 1990s, as Taiwan residents immigrated to Europe and the United States, they also brought the unique food drink pearl milk tea to these countries. Whether it is the older generation Chun Shui Tang or the new generation COCO, there are many brands, all of which have more stores and higher recognition overseas.

Taiwanese milk tea has become more and more recognized in Europe and the United States. Many celebrities have shared their experiences of drinking milk tea on social media. For example, after Bill Gates was recommended a cup of bubble milk tea by Chinese actor Simu Liu at the "Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People" award dinner, he posted on Twitter: "I have added bubble milk tea to my favorite beverage list. middle".

Celebrity effect has made milk tea popular in Europe and the United States. Europeans and Americans who were accustomed to drinking coffee began to become curious about this oriental beverage and were gradually attracted to it. According to Google Trends statistics, in 2021, searches for milk tea-related terms in the United States increased by more than 760%.

 tea brands founded in Europe and the United States are also strong competitors to new tea drinks in mainland China.

Recently, Ume Tea, a Ume Tea store founded by Chinese engineer Li Jiachun and rooted in the Bay Area, received millions of dollars in seed round financing. This financing was solely invested by iFly.vc Capital and is mainly used for team improvement, supply chain improvement, product iteration, store expansion, etc.

Ume's products include fruit tea, Oreo milk tea, surprise cup series with toys, etc. Compared with mainland overseas brands, Ume understands the local market better, has established a relatively stable supply chain, and has a higher degree of localization: it does not deliberately choose areas where Chinese people live, and non-Asian customers account for about 40%. On Tik There are high traffic on platforms such as Tok and Instagram.

all of which have achieved profitability, and the payback period is no more than one year.

As for Heytea, although it is more popular among mainland students, considering the exchange rate difference and higher labor costs abroad, the price of Heytea overseas is bound to be slightly higher than in China.

In Singapore stores, the price of Heytea's signature products reaches 5.8 to 5.9 Singapore dollars, which is about 30 yuan, which is about 9 yuan higher than in China. It is not difficult to imagine that in the UK, where the exchange rate difference is more obvious, a cup of Heytea may be a luxury in a certain sense for international students.

The higher prices overseas make it difficult for international students to regard new tea drinks as daily consumption. Therefore, new tea drinks must be localized.

Compared with Heytea, which has just gone abroad, Taiwanese milk tea, which has been overseas for many years, and Ume, which was founded in the United States, are relatively mature in terms of localization. Taiwanese pearl milk tea has become the most popular type of milk tea among young people in Europe and America, and Ume has also attracted local consumers with its unique decoration style and operational activities.

Most European and American consumers prefer high-sweetness drinks, and the model of Heytea cheese milk cap + cold brew tea + fresh fruit is relatively light. It will take time to attract more European and American consumers through localization adjustments; in addition, Heytea is The application of social media operations, peripheral co-branding and other methods that are customary in China also requires more thinking, practice and running-in when applied to foreign markets.

In 2018, the British "Economist" magazine once wrote an article about new tea drinks, regarding Heytea as a strong competitor to Starbucks, and believed that the wave of bubble cheese tea set off by Heytea may bring about "the rebirth of the global tea industry." .

However, in the following years, Heytea expanded aggressively domestically but tended to be cautious and conservative in overseas markets. It is still the milk tea brands from Taiwan, China that shape European and American consumers’ perception of milk tea.

It is not too late for Heytea to go overseas, but it is obvious that it has missed the best opportunity.

For Heytea and many mainland tea brands, Europe and the United States are second overseas markets with huge growth potential. However, to truly turn the European and American markets into the second growth curve, we still need to face difficult challenges.