In May 2019, Luckin Coffee landed on NASDAQ, creating the capital myth of "going public within 18 months of establishment". By the end of the year, it had 4507 stores, surpassing Starbucks for the first time. But the good times didn't last long. The 2020 Muddy Waters short selling report exposed its financial fraud, and Luckin admitted to inflating sales by $310 million, causing its stock price to plummet by 90% and fall back into bankruptcy protection crisis.
After delisting, Luckin Coffee ushered in a critical turning point. Guo Jin and his team took over and cut off non core businesses, restarted franchise models, achieved their first profit in 2021, completed debt restructuring and ended bankruptcy protection in 2022. 2023 will be Luckin Coffee's "year of explosive traffic". In March, it entered the Singapore market, and in June, its stores exceeded 10000. In September, the daily sales of "sauce flavored latte" exceeded 5.42 million cups, and its annual revenue exceeded 24.903 billion yuan, surpassing Starbucks China. Luckin Coffee will accelerate its globalization in 2024, opening its first store in the United States in June. By the third quarter of 2025, the total number of stores will exceed 29000, making it the coffee chain brand with the most stores in the world.
2、 Luckin's traffic breakthrough event: accurately hitting every traffic trend
（1） Sauce flavored Latte: The Peak of Cross border Co branded Contrastive Marketing
In September 2023, Ruixing and Moutai jointly launched the "Soy Sauce Latte", which combines high-end Baijiu with affordable coffee to instantly ignite social networks. This beverage, priced at 38 yuan, has become a phenomenon product that is widely discussed due to its psychological contrast of "not being able to afford Maotai but being able to afford sauce flavored latte". Its first day sales exceeded 5.42 million cups, with sales exceeding 100 million yuan. Luckin Coffee's stock price rose by 5.07% in a single day, and its market value increased by 3.2 billion US dollars.
The success of this co branding lies in Ruixing's accurate grasp of the communication logic of "contrast is flow": the high-end and traditional image of Moutai collides strongly with Ruixing's youth and affinity orientation, which not only satisfies consumers' curiosity, but also achieves product differentiation through the innovative taste of "Baijiu+coffee". More importantly, Luckin directly converted traffic into sales, and the scenes of long queues in offline stores and crashes in online mini programs enabled this marketing campaign to achieve the ultimate effect of "combining quality and efficiency".
（2） Double top endorsement: leveraging the celebrity effect to achieve brand upgrading
In November 2023, the official of Ruixing announced that Yiyang Qianxi was the spokesperson of the global brand. In August 2024, the customer service mistakenly wrote "Yiclosing Ganxi", which triggered fans' rights protection. Then the official announced Liu Yifei as the new global spokesperson and chief recommendation officer of tea drinks. This "unexpected operation" enabled the two top stream people to share the same business for the first time, # Liu Yifei, Yiyang Qianxi, made coffee extravagant # topic reading volume exceeded 130 million, and the "rich brothers and sisters" set up by netizens triggered a second creative carnival.
Through this endorsement storm, Ruixing not only resolved the public relations crisis, but also realized the upgrade of brand tonality: the young vitality of Yiyang Qianxi attracted Generation Z, Liu Yifei's extravagant temperament filled the gap of Ruixing's high-end image, and the combination of the two made the 9.9 yuan coffee have a "sense of luxury quality". Data shows that after the official announcement, the surrounding areas of Luckin Coffee's offline stores quickly sold out, with an average monthly increase of 40.6% in transaction customers.
（3） Oroqen Ethnic Endorsement: Agile Marketing Leveraging Cultural Hotspots
In 2025, the "horn hat" of the Oroqen people sparked a heated discussion across the internet due to its high similarity to the Luckin logo. Luckin quickly seized on this occasional hot topic and invited three Oroqen people to become brand spokespersons. This operation not only reflects respect for ethnic minority cultures, but also transforms internet memes into brand narratives, allowing Luckin Coffee to gain a "inclusive and youthful" brand reputation.
Unlike traditional hard advertising, Luckin Coffee demonstrated a "golden 24-hour" response speed in this event: from discovering hotspots to finalizing cooperation, it only took two days. Through short videos, graphics, and other forms of dissemination on social platforms, traffic was transformed from "accidental events" to "brand assets". This agile content response capability became the core advantage of its traffic operation.
（4） Meixue Ice City Joint Charter Flight: Breaking the Circle of Cross border Cooperation
The "Double King Combination" between Luckin Coffee and Honey Snow Ice City can be regarded as a marketing innovation in the tea beverage industry. The two sides launched a painted airplane and jointly created a themed flight, presenting two brands with different price bands bundled together. The cartoon image of Snow King and Luckin Blue Cup in the same frame not only refreshes the imagination of aviation marketing, but also creates cross identification among the user groups of the two brands, forming a secondary dissemination of "claiming and belonging" on social media platforms.
The key to this cooperation lies in Luckin breaking the inherent thinking that "peers are enemies", creating topicality through the combination of "anti common sense", and leveraging the freshness of aviation scenes to reach a wider audience for brand exposure. Data shows that during the joint venture event, Luckin added over 42 million new trading customers, and the revenue of its joint stores increased by 102.8% year-on-year.
3、 The replicable inspiration of Luckin Traffic Password: It's not just about traffic, but also about conversion
（1） Contrastive marketing: creating cognitive conflicts and igniting social communication
Luckin Coffee's multiple popular marketing campaigns revolve around "contrast": Maotai's high-end and Luckin Coffee's affordable prices, Oroqen's traditional culture and modern coffee consumption, the sinking market of Meixue Ice City and Luckin Coffee's urban layout. This cognitive conflict can quickly capture users' attention and form spontaneous dissemination. For new consumer brands, a contrasting combination of "high-end and affordable", "traditional and modern", and "Eastern and Western" can be used to create topical products or activities and reduce communication costs.
（2） Agile response: Seize the hot window period and achieve rapid monetization
Luckin's actions in the Oroqen ethnic incident and celebrity endorsement controversy demonstrate the marketing mindset of "hot spots are opportunities". Brands need to establish an efficient content response mechanism, completing a closed loop from insight to implementation within 24 hours of the emergence of hot topics, while combining hot topics with products to avoid "hype for the sake of hype". For example, Luckin Coffee has simultaneously launched limited edition products and peripheral gifts during hot events, allowing traffic to be directly converted into consumer behavior.
（3） Integration of Quality and Efficiency: Closed loop Design of Traffic and Sales
Luckin never engages in aimless traffic marketing, and every event is accompanied by a clear consumer entry point: when the "Sauce flavored Latte" goes online, the Luckin mini program opens an exclusive ordering channel; After the official announcement of the dual spokespersons, offline stores will launch joint cup covers and stickers; During the collaboration period with Meixue Ice City, a "flight themed" discount package will be launched. This "event content product conversion" chain design makes traffic no longer a "castle in the air", but a tangible increase in sales.
（4） Youthfulness anchoring: closely related to the emotions and aesthetics of Generation Z
Luckin Coffee always regards the 18-35 age group as its core target, from IP co branding (cat and mouse), celebrity endorsements to cultural marketing, all revolve around the interest map of young people. Brands need to conduct in-depth research on the consumer psychology of Generation Z and establish brand identity through emotional resonance. For example, Luckin Coffee's "9.9 yuan coffee" meets the cost-effectiveness needs of young people, while cooperation with Maotai and Bulgari spokespersons satisfies their yearning for a "light luxury lifestyle".
（5） Product oriented: Traffic ultimately relies on product strength to support
Luckin Coffee's traffic marketing is not a castle in the air, it is backed by strong product development capabilities: popular drinks such as coconut latte and cheese latte consistently dominate the sales charts. In 2022, Luckin Coffee won the gold medal in the IIAC International Coffee Tasting Competition for five consecutive years. Traffic can bring short-term attention, but product strength can achieve user retention. Brands need to convert traffic into the driving force for product iteration, optimize products through user feedback, and form a virtuous cycle of "traffic attracts users, products retain users".
4、 Conclusion: The essence of traffic is the transmission of user value
Luckin's comeback is not accidental. The core of its traffic operation lies in "user centricity": attracting users through contrast marketing, retaining users through agile response, and converting users through product strength. Today, as the traffic dividend gradually fades, Luckin's case proves that the real traffic password is not a gimmick to attract attention, but a precise insight into user needs, a profound understanding of communication logic, and the ability to convert traffic into brand value. For new consumer brands, only by breaking free from "traffic anxiety" and focusing on products and users can they stand firm in the fierce market competition.
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