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set them apart from mainstream café Customers will associate the
chains and allowed them to find good sensations, feelings and memo-
their place in the overly saturated ries they have of the experience with
coffee shop business. the brand, the retailer and its merchan-
On the other hand, Fiat, the dise. Most goods can be easily pur-
Italian car company that also fea- chased online: consumers who opt-in
tures a with a clothing line, on the for in person shopping prioritize un-
other hand, did not really hit the mark forgettable experiences and unparal-
with its Hong Kong location at first. leled customer service.
Customers were confused: the overall This is especially true for the
design of the location did not speak to Millennial demographic, a.k.a. ‘the
locals. Walking in front of the Hong single most important demographic on
Kong location you could hear people the planet today’ by Goldman Sachs,
wondering: “Is it a coffee shop? Is who tends to place a premium on in-
it a car dealership?” The answer is: teresting and novelty experiences that
it’s both. Fiat was just approaching bring them closer to a brand.
the Chinese market and the brand
recognition was low and the prod-
uct and target were off.
The coffee culture in Asia has
been taking off in the recent years, but
the italian espresso, is definitely not
the best selling item in China, not even
close to the top five. America hit the
Chinese coffee market hard and suc-
cessfully with Starbucks, all that came
after is still struggling to find its niche.
Photo /cleo vermij
What’s my take? It’s F&B
that’s is in fashion.

Those new, younger customers truly expose them to their target Food trends are being analyzed
may not have the means to consis- audience? Can these brands compete by the main trend research agencies
tently afford the latest designs, but with mainstream café brands? in the same way fashion trends are.
they still appreciate the brand, rec- WGSN and Business of Fashion have
ognize its quality and will gladly Coffee competition recently started to explore and pro-
spend money on a fancy high tea at vide data, consumer behavior,
the Brand’s statement location. The Italian coffee giant Illy trends and analysis of the F&B in-
Louis Vuitton’s foray into the successfully approached the foreign dustry, just as they have been doing
culinary sphere and Bvlgari’s ven- market with its chain of coffee with fashion for decades.
ture into the hospitality business are shops. Their philosophy and ap- If it harmonizes well with the
sure to excite followers of the brand, proach were fairly rudimental, but brand, then it is going to enhance that
but may raise eyebrows from a busi- effective: a cozy cafe environment brand and cement the relationship
ness risk perspective. Are these with good coffee. A place for Italians consumers have with the retailer. This
brands in danger of diluting their abroad and coffee lovers to enjoy brings us back to this Simon Sinek’s
business, especially if their food and prime quality coffee and experience the key-to-successful-marketing quote:
coffee quality is cheap and maybe Italian coffee culture. This basic ap- “People don’t buy what you do; they
not very good? Is the move going to proach, together with a quality product, buy why you do it.”

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