Tencent launch partnership with Chinese coffee start-up Luckin
Rebecca Henrys Sino.uk
Published: 2018-09-08
Tencent, one of the largest internet and technology companies in the world, has launched a partnership with a coffee startup to bring everybody their favourite drink even quicker.
As of September 3, Luckin, a coffee and bakery-chain, has sold 26 million cups of coffee across its 1,003 stores across China.
"We hope the cooperation with Luckin coffee will create a new lifestyle of 'smart retail' through tie-up on user traffic, technology exploration, application scenarios and management abilities," said Lei Maofeng, deputy general manager of Tencent's payment platform WeChat Pay.
The move is said to be in response to Alibaba's partnership with Starbucks in August to deliver coffee straight to the doors of coffee-lovers. It is expected that the partnership, which will begin in Shanghai and Beijing, will cover 2,000 Starbucks outlets by the end of the year.
Daniel Zhang, Chief Executive Officer of the Alibaba Group, said: "Alibaba is thrilled to expand our existing partnership with Starbucks by leveraging our cutting-edge New Retail infrastructure and digital power to enable an unprecedented experience for consumers."
It's unsurprising that the two groups announced partnerships with coffee chains as we enter into the new academic year.
Coffee is a passion that is echoed across the globe and students in the UK are particularly addicted.
Coffee specialists, Bibium, have put together six reasons why they think students can't stop drinking coffee.
1. With 9 am lectures and non-stop deadlines, it keeps students just awake enough to make it through the day.
2. Forget having a gossip over a water-cooler, the coffee machine is the best place to socialise.
3. Students love to procrastinate, so taking time to make and drink a cup of coffee keeps them from writing their essays.
4. There's nothing worse than being stuck in a library with freezing cold air-con, coffee quickly warms them up.
5. Coffee keeps them productive, it's a little morning routine that gives a quick boost of caffeine.
6. It's a hangover cure-all - studies suggest coffee protects you from liver diseases caused by alcohol.
"Coffee has become a popular drink for young people nowadays and there are more coffee industry practitioners," said Maofeng.
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