Beverage brands rapidly expand overseas presence

Chinese fresh beverages brands are expanding their businesses overseas, gradually integrating into local communities and winning the hearts of consumers through high-quality products and services.

On Jan 2, Mixue Group, a beverages maker based in Zhengzhou, Henan province with over 36,000 stores at home and abroad, applied for an initial public offering in Hong Kong.

The IPO application is being viewed as a step forward in the company's globalization strategy, as it accelerates efforts to enhance consumer awareness and build a brand that is renowned globally.

As a major Chinese new-style tea beverage brand that is going international, Mixue has taken active part in the nation's Belt and Road Initiative, and has been speeding up expansion in overseas markets since its first store opened in Vietnam in 2018.

Data from the company show that as of Sept 30 last year, Mixue had established around 4,000 outlets in 11 countries and regions beyond China.

According to China Insights Consultancy, in terms of the number of overseas stores by that time, Mixue ranked first among all new-style tea drinks brands in Southeast Asia.

"In 2012, we became the first in China's freshly made beverages industry to establish centralized factories. We operate the largest and most comprehensive end-to-end supply chain in the industry, according to CIC," the IPO prospectus of Mixue showed.

"At present, it has built a complete industrial system that integrates agricultural technology support, centralized procurement from production areas, product R&D, central factory production, self-built logistics, store operation management, and customer service. The end-to-end supply chain is complete," CIC said in its report.

Mixue owns five major production bases in Henan, Hainan and Anhui provinces; the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region; and Chongqing, taking up a total area of 670,000 square meters to generate an annual output of 1.43 million metric tons.

To further increase operational efficiency, Mixue has established a self-operated warehouse system that consists of 26 warehouses nationwide and takes up over 300,000 sq m.

To support its overseas business, Mixue has built localized warehouse systems. As of Sept 30, it had built 11 self-operated warehouses in four Southeast Asian countries with a total area of 66,000 sq m.

Chinese consumer goods brands, represented by new-style tea beverage brands, are going global one after another, winning the hearts of local consumers in the process.

Following Chinese technology enterprises that have gained in popularity among consumers in Southeast Asia, new-style beverage brands such as Mixue, Chagee and Luckin Coffee are also quickly expanding businesses there, said Lianhe Zaobao, a Chinese-language newspaper in Singapore.

Spicy hot pot, a traditional cuisine from Sichuan province, is also turning into a new favorite for people overseas, the paper said in a report.

On Jan 4, Naixue opened its first direct store in Bangkok. The store, which takes up two floors and nearly 200 sq m, is located in Emsphere, a high-end shopping mall in the Thai capital.

Meanwhile, a Heytea outlet in the Soho area of London has been well-received by consumers.

According to the report by CIC, by 2028, the global market scale of freshly made beverages is estimated to surpass $1.1 trillion, and the rapid expansion of emerging markets, particularly China and Southeast Asia, will be the key contributor.

"The export of freshly made beverages has reached a natural stage, and with the continuous improvement of the comprehensive strength of leading enterprises such as Mixue, going abroad is a good opportunity to test their supply chain integrity and overseas market adaptability," said Zhu Danpeng, an independent food and beverages analyst.