From a Cup of Coffee, a Look at How Chinese Brands Go Global

At a Glance (China Coffee Network): (Source: City Suzhou Net) There is a view that when enterprises expand overseas, they must both bring out the systematized capabilities accumulated domestically and integrate with…

(Source: City Suzhou Net)

There is a view that when enterprises expand overseas, they must both bring out the systematized capabilities accumulated domestically and integrate with local market rules and needs. On one hand, digital operations capability, global supply-chain integration capability, and the continuous iteration of the product-innovation system form the underlying support for a company’s going global—these capabilities determine how fast and how far an enterprise can run in an unfamiliar market. On the other hand, the localized shaping of brand value, the cultivation of cross-cultural consensus, and the building of a local operating system adapted to local regulations, standards, and consumption habits determine whether an enterprise can truly take root.

At the level of industry practice, the global expansion of Chinese coffee brands offers a case to observe. Taking Luckin Coffee as an example, its 100th store in Singapore recently opened; over three years it has served more than 1.9 million customers and launched over 130 products, becoming the second-largest chain coffee brand by store count in the local market.

At the September 28 opening of Luckin’s 100th Singapore store, Chairman Li Hui summarized this progress: ‘We have adapted the systematized digital capabilities, product-innovation system, and global supply-chain advantages accumulated domestically to the Singapore local market.’ In his view, the company’s business model is replicable overseas.

As a major Asia-Pacific economy, a core ASEAN member state, and a globally important trade and investment hub, Singapore’s economic development relies heavily on an open, stable, and inclusive regional environment, which is also why it has become an important testing ground for Chinese brands to connect regional and global markets.

‘Chinese brands are not merely ‘going international’; more and more of them are becoming truly international brands,’ said Huang Minglang, Division Director of the Singapore Economic Development Board. ‘Luckin is one example—a truly international brand does not merely enter overseas markets, but also serves local consumers, cultivates local talent, and builds long-term capabilities locally.’

It is understood that, on the supply-chain side, Luckin leverages its vast user base to link premium origins worldwide, connecting high-quality coffee beans from producing regions such as Brazil, Colombia, Ethiopia, and China’s Yunnan, as well as raw materials like Indonesian coconut, with the domestic mega-scale consumer market, and drives the coordinated development of the global coffee industry chain through scaled procurement and deep cultivation of origins.

In terms of localized operations, Luckin has dug deep into local consumption preferences and regulatory standards, advancing the ‘Nutri-Grade’ beverage nutrition grading, simultaneously rolling out local-flavor R&D and green-store construction, and extending the LEED green-building standard overseas.

Zooming out from Singapore to the globe, data shows that as of the end of September, Luckin had over 38,000 stores worldwide, had served more than 500 million customers cumulatively, and had a presence in China, Singapore, Malaysia, and the United States.

Industry insiders believe that behind the numbers, the logic of going global is changing: it is no longer merely product export, but a comprehensive export of supply chain, business model, store standards, and local community responsibility. This means Chinese enterprises’ global expansion is moving beyond the mere ‘selling-goods era’ of exporting products and entering a new stage of deep cultivation in brand globalization.

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