China will become Starbucks’ largest market

Starbucks continues to show impressive results, despite the overall recession in the consumer market.

Starbucks continues to show impressive results, despite the overall recession in the consumer market. In the U.S. domestic market, the company achieved eight of its ten best days in history for the year.

Last year, Starbucks’ performance in China could have been more impressive due to the new pandemic outbreak and restrictive measures. Comparable sales were down more than 40 percent in December.

Nevertheless, it is in China that the coffee giant intends to bet in the medium term. The market could become the mainstay of the Seattle-based company’s portfolio once it fully recovers.

As of February 2023, the company has 6,100 coffee shops under management. Starbucks plans to increase that number to 9,000 in the next three years. Howard Schultz stated that the Chinese market would one day be the largest in the company’s portfolio. However, Starbucks currently has a portfolio of about 16,000 coffee shops in the U.S., which bring in almost three times as much revenue.

Starbucks’ main competitor in China remains the local chain Luckin Coffee, which overcame financial problems in 2020-2021. Sales of the local chain are growing steadily. In particular, in the third quarter, revenue added 66%.