China's beleaguered Luckin's coffee adds lifestyle products to its menu – TechCrunch

The Luckin saga continues as the Chinese coffee challenger searches for solutions to the undesirable consequences of a $ 310 million in fraud. Tuesday, the company Ad He fired chief operating officer Liu Jian, the suspected mastermind of the fraud, and CEO Qian Zhiya, a rare CEO of a Chinese Internet company. Despite the scandal, the company is said to be expanding, opening ten points of sale per day in the second trimester.

Another recent effort from the coffee delivery startup recalls that the NASDAQ-listed company isn't just about taking charge Starbucks

but he also has his eyes on hundreds of thousands of convenience stores, as noted at the start of his IPO prospectus. On Thursday, the coffee chain announced a week-long sales campaign (in Chinese) to promote their range of lifestyle products, from face masks and hand soap to Apple Airpods and Beats headphones. Most goods other than beverages are third parties, with the exception of a small collection of Luckin branded items, such as coffee mugs.

Luckin started selling lifestyle products in the third quarter of 2019 and it has gradually expanded the variety of its offer. These items can be easily discovered in the app by tapping the "Fashion items" icon (潮 品) located right next to the cafe menu entry. Luckin's portion of non-drink items, which also includes packaged snacks, downloaded from

14% of total sales at 23% between the third quarter of 2018 and the third quarter of 2019.

It may seem odd that a coffee chain is selling disinfected wipes and garbage bags, but the approach could indicate a long-standing strategy in China's internet industry: quickly building up a base of information. users through a competitive product and monetize later through peripheral but lucrative activity.

The heavily subsidized coffee has been the driving force behind Luckin's user acquisition. Currently, its lifestyle products are also greatly reduced, so the question is whether they will be part of the company's revenue when the benefits are exhausted. After all, why would consumers buy essentials daily from a coffee ordering app when dozens of larger ecommerce teams offer greater selection and logistics management more mature?