Marketing Is Not Enough For Luckin Coffee to Dethrone Starbucks in China
Skift Take
Luckin Coffee's current business model is not sustainable. And at a certain point, the investor funding has to stop flowing if nothing changes.
Marketing was far and away Luckin Coffee’s top operating expense as a company in 2018, according to its IPO filing submitted to the SEC on Monday.
The Chinese startup, already regarded as Starbucks' biggest threat in Asia, spent more than $111 million on advertising or “sales and marketing expenses” last year, equivalent to 89 percent of the chain's total revenue generated over the same period.
Luckin Coffee’s commitment to promoting its brand has earned a lot of buzz since launching just over 18 months ago. The company, howeve
