Korea
Starbucks is solidifying its leading position in Korea's coffee industry, market analysts recently told the Korea Times.
New audit reports show Starbucks Coffee Korea enjoyed a 20.5% sales increase in 2018 over the year before with $1.3 billion in sales. Its operating profit went up 29.9%. The international retail coffee leader focuses on cold beverages as Korean consumers trend toward iced drinks over hot beverages. The chain also introduced new concepts including the high-end Reserve store and Teavana.
Starbucks opened 121 new stores in 2018 and now operates more than 1,280 stores in Korea.
Competitors – A Twosome Place, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Ediya Coffee and other smaller rivals – also saw sales growth in 2018. Those numbers, however, did not keep pace with Starbucks. A Twosome Place, formerly a subsidiary of CJ Foodville, posted $249 million in sales and $25.5 million in operating profit during its first year.
Ediya, with 2,500 stores in Korea, showed an 8.9% increase in sales to $175 million but operating profit fell 12.4% due to expenses tied to the building of the Ediya Coffee Dream factory.
Sales for Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, meanwhile, climbed 5.6% to $145 million.