According to Modern Express, several consumers recently posted on social media orders to purchase Starbucks drinks for 4 or 6 yuan on the day of the beginning of autumn on August 7th, sparking attention on whether Starbucks will lower its prices.
On August 9th, Modern Express reporters visited several Starbucks stores in Nanjing and learned that the ultra-low price was due to subsidies from the food delivery platform, not an official price adjustment by the brand.
At the Starbucks New Century store, the staff stated that the low price promotion was a "subsidy offer" from the food delivery platform, and the store itself did not carry out any price reduction activities. After placing an order in offline stores, the price remains the same and there are currently no other discounts unless the customer has previously purchased a 'Star Gift Pack'. The other party also stated that this is the case in the Nanjing market and has not received any price adjustments or large-scale event notifications from headquarters or regions.
Starbucks Aishang Tiandi store staff also denied the official price reduction, stating that "we did not lower the price" and speculated that the low price "may be a discount from some other platforms". Offline stores still maintain the price range of 30 to 40 yuan, and occasional platform coupons can be reduced to more than 20 yuan.
Subsequently, the reporter visited the Starbucks Jiuyi City store, and the staff responded that it was similar to the previous two. The salesperson stated that the store did not receive any notice of price reduction and all products were sold at their original prices. For the 4 yuan and 6 yuan orders that appeared online, the salesperson explained that they were short-term subsidy activities of third-party platforms during a specific period, and the original price would be restored after the activity ended, regardless of brand pricing.
Image source: Visual China
The reporter noticed that Starbucks announced a price adjustment on June 10, 2025. At that time, Starbucks China implemented a collective price reduction of about 5 yuan on dozens of non coffee series products, including Xingbingle, Bingshaken Tea, and Tea Latte.
This is the first time in 25 years since its entry into the Chinese market that it has proactively, publicly, and massively lowered product prices, which is seen as an important measure to cope with fierce competition among local coffee brands.
In November 2025, Starbucks sold 60% equity of its China business to Boyu Capital for $4 billion. The delivery was completed in April 2026, and approximately 8000 stores were converted to a franchise model and no longer included in Starbucks' global direct sales financial report.
According to Euromonitor International data, Starbucks' market share in China has decreased from 42% in 2017 to 14% in 2024. In the fourth quarter of the fiscal year 2025, its Chinese average unit price decreased by 7% year-on-year, with a decrease of 9% in first tier cities. According to the financial report released in July 2026, Starbucks' global revenue for the third quarter of the 2026 fiscal year was $9.32 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 1.4%; But the net profit increased to 1.05 billion US dollars year-on-year, and global same store sales increased by 7.9%.
Editor: Ye Zhiqiu
Internship Editor: Yuan Ting
【 Source: Modern Express 】
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