Luckin Coffee revenue grows almost 700 per cent in second quarter

Chinese coffee chain Luckin Coffee has announced total net revenues from products of ¥870 million (about US$126.7 million) for the second quarter of 2019. This represents an increase of 698.4 per cent over the ¥109 million the company reported for the same quarter 2018. “We are pleased with the performance of our business as we continue to execute against our long-term growth plan,” say Jenny Zhiya Qian, Chief Executive Officer of Luckin Coffee. “Total net revenues from products [were] driven by a significant increase in transacting customers, an increase in the average number of items purchased by our transacting customers and higher effective selling prices. We believe this is the result of our distinguished value proposition of delivering our customers high quality, high convenience and high affordability.” Luckin Coffee’s cumulative number of transacting customers increased to 22.8 million from 2.9 million as of the end of the second quarter of 2018. During the second quarter of 2019, the company says it acquired 5.9 million new transacting customers. Average monthly transacting customers in the quarter were 6.2 million, representing an increase of 410.6 per cent from 1.2 million in the second quarter of 2018. Average monthly total items sold in the quarter were 27.6 million, representing an increase of 589.7 per cent from four million in the second quarter of 2018. The total number of Luckin Coffee stores in operation at the end of the quarter was 2963, representing an increase of 374.8 per cent from 624 stores at the end of the second quarter of 2018. Store level operating loss in the quarter was ¥55.8 million (about US$8.1 million), decreasing from a loss of ¥81.7 million in the second quarter of 2018. “We have substantially reduced our store operating loss as a percentage of net revenues as a result of benefits of scale and increased bargaining power, operating efficiency from technology, and higher store throughput, and we are on track to reach our store level break-even point during the third quarter of 2019,” Qian says. “Furthermore, we opened 593 net new Luckin stores during the quarter, providing enhanced convenience to our customers, and strategically launched our new freshly-brewed tea drinks Luckin Tea to capture different consumption moments and benefit from strong demand for freshly-brewed tea drinks in China. We also strengthened our supply chain and continued to invest in our brand and our technology. Finally, we remain on track to become the largest coffee network in China in terms of number of stores by the end of 2019.” Follow Global Coffee Report on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter for up-to-date news and analysis of the global coffee industry.