Luckin Coffee Inc, the Chinese challenger to Starbucks Corp, filed on Monday for a U.S. initial public offering (IPO) through which, sources said, it is looking to raise up to $800 million.
The Beijing-based coffee chain set a placeholder amount of $100 million to indicate the size of the IPO and did not disclose the number of shares it would offer, a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission showed.
Luckin has waged its cash-burning caffeine war with generous subsidies, speedy delivery and viral promotions on social media, which in turn has also pushed Starbucks to form a tie-up with local tech giant Alibaba to deliver coffee to customers.
According to the prospectus, its acquisition cost per new customer decreased to 16.9 yuan ($2.52) in the first quarter of 2019 from 103.5 yuan in the year-ago quarter, helped by the growth of its network and improved brand recognition.
“The big question for the brand long term is if, when it rolls back discounts, enough customers stick around, ” said Ben Cavender, Shanghai-based principal at China Market Research Group, “But the company has completely rewritten the rules for the coffee business in China and has impacted Starbucks as well as a host of smaller players.”
Luckin Coffee Inc, the Chinese challenger to Starbucks Corp, filedon Monday for a U.S. initial public offering (IPO) through which, sources said, it is looking to raise up to $800 million.
The Beijing-based coffee chain set a placeholder amount of $100 million to indicate the size of the IPO and did not disclose the number of shares it would offer, a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission showed.
Luckin has waged its cash-burning caffeine war with generous subsidies, speedy delivery and viralpromotions on social media, which in turn has also pushed Starbucks to form a tie-up with local tech giant Alibaba to deliver coffee to customers.
According to the prospectus, its acquisition cost per new customer decreased to 16.9 yuan ($2.52) in the first quarter of 2019 from 103.5 yuan in the year-ago quarter, helped by the growth of its network and improved brand recognition.
“The big question for the brand long term is if, when it rolls backdiscounts, enough customers stick around,” said Ben Cavender, Shanghai-based principal at China Market Research Group, “But the company has completely rewritten the rules for the coffee business in China and has impacted Starbucks as well as a host ofsmaller players.”
file
/fa?l/
v. 提出申請
詞性拓展：file (n. 文件，檔案)
英文釋義：to present sth. so that it can be officially recorded and dealt with
搭配短語：file for sth.
搭配短語：file for divorce
be looking to do sth.
試圖找到做某事的方法
英文釋義：to try to find ways of doing sth.
placeholder
/?ple?sho?ld?r/
n. 占位符
相關詞匯：place（n. 位置）
相關詞匯：hold（v. 把某物保持在某個位置）
disclose
/d?s?klo?z/
v. 透露，揭露
同義詞：reveal
例句：The spokesman refused to disclosedetails of the takeover to the press.
filing
/?fa?l/
n. 存檔檔案，存檔記錄
詞性拓展：file (v. 歸檔)
搭配短語：a bankruptcy filing
securities
/skj?r?tis/
n. 證券
commission
/kmn/
n.（政府管控或調查某事的）委員會
搭配短語：a commission on environmental pollution
wage
/we?d?/
v. 發動（戰爭）；組織（活動）
搭配短語：wage a war/a campaign
詞性拓展：wage（n. 工資，報酬）
caffeine
/?k?fi?n/
n. 咖啡因，咖啡堿
subsidy
/?s?bs?di/
n. 津貼，補貼
例句：The government is planning to increase housing subsidies for the poor.
viral
/?va?r?l/
adj. 病毒的；病毒般傳播的
詞性拓展：virus（n. 病毒）
例句：Within days the film clip went viral.
tie-up
/?ta p/
n. 聯合，合作
相關詞匯：tie up（捆綁，紮緊）
tie up 搭配短語：tie up the garbage bag
prospectus
/prspekt?s/
n.（學校的）招生簡章；（企業的）招股說明書
acquisition
/kwzn/
n. 獲得
詞性拓展：acquire（v. 獲得；買到）
roll back sth.
（逐漸）減少，削減某物
搭配短語：roll back prices/taxes
stick around
停留，逗留
例句：I’ll stick around here a bit longer.
principal
/?pr?ns?pl/
n. 企業或者機構的負責人
a host of
許多，壹大群
搭配短語：a host of children/issues
raise
v. 籌集，籌錢
up to...
多達...，最多達到（某個數量或者程度）
initial
adj.首次的
challenger to sth./for sth.
...的挑戰者
file for sth.
就...提出申請，
搭配短語：file for divorce
Beijing-based
總部在北京的
chain
n. 連鎖商店
cash-burning
adj.燒錢的
相關詞匯：cash（n. 現金)
相關詞匯：burn（v. 燃燒）
speedy
adj. 快速的、敏捷的
per
prep. 每，每壹
in the year-ago quarter
於去年同季度
rewrite
v. 重寫；改寫
Luckin has waged its cash-burning caffeine war with generous subsidies, speedy delivery and viral promotions on social media, which in turn has also pushed Starbucks to form a tie-up with local tech giant Alibaba to deliver coffee to customers.
瑞幸咖啡通過慷慨的補貼、快速的配送服務和社交媒體上鋪天蓋地的促銷活動，發動了燒錢的“咖啡因大戰”，也轉而推動了星巴克與中國本土科技巨頭阿裏巴巴結成聯盟，為消費者配送咖啡。
本期《路透社》的新聞報道了中國品牌瑞幸咖啡赴美國申請 IPO 的事宜，並分析了瑞幸咖啡對中國咖啡行業的重大影響——顛覆了行業傳統，並迫使中國星巴克進行業務革新。
有分析人士指出，瑞幸的急速擴張建立在持續的虧損之上。瑞幸的招股書顯示，2017 年，瑞幸經營虧損逾 5600 萬元；2018 年，全年虧損約 16 億元；今年第壹季度，瑞幸咖啡繼續虧損狀態，虧損金額達 5.3 億元。這麽算來，瑞幸這家 2017 年 10 月才創立的公司至今虧損的金額已超過 21 億元，平均每天虧損近 400 萬元。這種燒錢補貼的生長模式惹來了不小的爭議。
不過，有數據顯示，我國每人的年均咖啡消費杯數還是個位數，這與發達國家動輒 200 杯至 400 杯的平均水平有壹定差距。這樣的落差預示著咖啡消費市場的潛力。我國的“90後”、“00後”中的很多人從小就接觸咖啡文化，形成了壹定的消費習慣；同時，瑞幸抓住了互聯網時代的市場特性，用“燒錢”的辦法大量發放補貼、養成用戶習慣，這麽做有利於快速積累用戶、搶奪市場。從這些角度上說，“瑞幸模式”是有可行性的。