Lavazza focuses on an expansion strategy

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New flagship store in London

Lavazza focuses on an expansion strategy: in September it inaugurated its first flagship store in the UK (London). The company aims to bring an immersive experience and to spread the culture of traditional Italian coffee. Built on three floors with a total area of 500 square meters, the British flagship store is located in a historic building, right in front of the iconic Liberty store on Great Marlborough Street. The location includes the cafeteria, the grocery area where customers can participate in tastings, and the restaurant. To encourage the coffee lovers to visit the new London flagship store, in collaboration with Yahoo Creative Studios, Lavazza has created video contents on recipes and an interactive gaming experience with the augmented reality that allows participants to take part in the draw for win also the “A Modo Mio Voicy” coffee machine. Besides, Lavazza and Yum China Holdings announced that they plan to accelerate the expansion of the store network of Lavazza cafés in China through the existing joint venture, aiming to open 1,000 stores by 2025. Together they will inject $200 million initially into the joint venture to fund its future growth. In addition, the joint venture is expected to be Lavazza’s exclusive distributor in mainland China to introduce more products from Lavazza’s global portfolio. In early 2020, Yum China (the largest restaurant company in China in terms of 2020 system sales) and Lavazza Group formed a joint venture to explore and develop Lavazza café concept in China. The joint venture is owned by Yum China and Lavazza with a stake of 65% and 35%, respectively. The first Lavazza flagship store in Shanghai opened its doors to customers in April 2020. Lavazza has since grown to over 20 stores in China across Shanghai, Hangzhou, Beijing and Guangzhou. “The potential for coffee in China is vast; there is a lot of unexplored white space. As the largest restaurant operator in China, Yum China is the best partner to further grow the Lavazza brand in this market given its deep understanding of local consumers and market dynamics. Likewise, we believe Lavazza is the perfect premium brand for Yum China to achieve its coffee aspirations, bringing outstanding quality products and in-depth expertise of the coffee sector, nurtured over the 126 years of our history”, said Antonio Baravalle, CEO of Lavazza Group. The next phase of Lavazza store expansion in China is to increase the density of Lavazza café network in higher tier cities with a variety of store formats for a wider range of occasions. With 22 stores as of August 31, 2021, the joint venture plans to more than double that by the end of 2021. The joint venture will further enhance capabilities to drive efficiencies, in particular in-store operation, branding and marketing efforts.