Yi Dian Dian milk tea belongs to the Taiwanese brand 50 Lan, founded in 1994. In 2010, 50 Lan chose Shanghai as its starting point in China (renamed Yi Dian Dian because the 50 Lan brand name was already registered in mainland China). It began rapid expansion in 2015, opening about 20 new stores per month, and adopted flexible models like single-store franchising and regional licensing in some cities. Thus, Yi Dian Dian has only been in the mainland market for six years.

At that time, there were many domestic milk tea brands. COCO, which entered the mainland market in 2007, became the most recognized brand among consumers due to its excellent operations and management. Now, Yi Dian Dian has become a beloved milk tea brand, with stores across the country mostly doing brisk business, often seeing long queues or early sell-outs, seemingly surpassing COCO.

I. Two Questions About Yi Dian Dian

A new brand developing so quickly raises some questions:

1.1 Why is Yi Dian Dian milk tea so popular?

Before answering, we need to clarify: Is Yi Dian Dian really popular? Yes!

To gauge consumer attention, we are fortunate to live in an internet age, inseparable from phones and computers. Hot discussions on phones and computers revolve around Baidu, WeChat, and Weibo.

When I searched for "Yi Dian Dian" and "milk tea" on Baidu Index, I got the following results:

From the data, the PC search volume for "milk tea" shows a stable trend overall, representing normal consumer interest. We can see that before 2017, Yi Dian Dian's attention was similar to that of milk tea; it wasn't a hot topic. From 2017 to before February 2017, Yi Dian Dian's attention was stable and slightly higher than milk tea's. After February 2017, Yi Dian Dian's attention began to rise continuously, significantly higher than and pulling up milk tea's attention. Thus, Yi Dian Dian has indeed been very popular in the milk tea industry recently, especially after February, becoming a viral milk tea brand.

The WeChat Index for Yi Dian Dian shows a similar trend to Baidu Index, confirming each other.

Regarding why Yi Dian Dian suddenly became popular on social media in February 2017, searching Weibo for posts from February to March 2017 related to Yi Dian Dian, we see a post by big V BOC-hu (353,597 followers), as shown:

This is a hot Weibo post with over ten thousand reads, reposts, and likes. Thus, the reason for Yi Dian Dian's popularity during this period is the hidden ordering method and consumer discussions about milk tea guides. I will analyze this later.

1.2 Why are there always people queuing at Yi Dian Dian stores?

It seems that at any time, Yi Dian Dian stores always have long queues. For any consumer who has tried Yi Dian Dian, the taste is far from worth such a long wait.

To address this, I searched for "Yi Dian Dian" on Meituan and looked at four stores in Hangzhou (Jinhai City Shopping Center, Longhu Times Paradise Walk, Xiasha Baolong, Xiasha Xuelin Gaosha), totaling 28+55+61+63=197 reviews. I found that the high-frequency word in reviews was "queue," with waiting times of 10-15 minutes. In contrast, reviews for COCO stores in the same area focused more on the milk tea itself.

Thus, consumer doubts about Yi Dian Dian mainly center on the popularity of queues and the average taste.

II. Detailed Analysis of Yi Dian Dian's Model

To understand Yi Dian Dian's popularity, we need to first understand what makes its model special.

2.1 Comparison with COCO

To analyze Yi Dian Dian's uniqueness, I chose COCO, a leading milk tea brand, as a benchmark.

2.1.1 Industry Position

Based on data from a restaurant search website, comparing Yi Dian Dian and COCO:

From this data, despite similar franchise fees and business models, Yi Dian Dian's scale is only half of COCO's in terms of market share and store count. COCO remains the giant in the milk tea market.

2.1.2 Market Attention

From another angle, market attention differs:

When I searched for "Yi Dian Dian," "COCO," and "milk tea" on Baidu Index, I got the above results: Yi Dian Dian's attention is far higher than COCO's, while COCO's is slightly higher than milk tea's. This may be because COCO is a mature brand in China, but this data aligns with our general impression.

2.2 Analysis Approach

I will analyze the key factors for a milk tea store's success and compare them between COCO and Yi Dian Dian to determine why Yi Dian Dian is so popular.

After reviewing relevant materials (e.g., a Zhihu answer on how to start a dessert/milk tea store from scratch, thanks to author Mr. Su), and excluding uncontrollable factors like brand, trademark, partnership, and rent, I summarized three aspects: location, product, and store design. I will compare Yi Dian Dian and COCO on these three points.

2.3 Location

Seventy percent of milk tea sales come from walk-in customers, driven by impulse, so high foot traffic is crucial. To examine why Yi Dian Dian's sales are so brisk, the premise is that store locations must be reasonable. Therefore, following the principle of controlling variables, I first consider whether Yi Dian Dian and COCO store locations differ significantly.

I searched for "Yi Dian Dian" and "COCO" on Baidu Maps, adjusting the scale to 5 km, and got the following two maps:

Yi Dian Dian store distribution in Hangzhou

COCO store distribution in Hangzhou

Comparing the two maps, the layouts are very similar, mainly concentrated along subway lines and in central areas like Xihu District. Thus, there is little difference in location, and we can approximate that foot traffic is equal.

Additionally, using a clever method: finding well-known similar businesses (similar businesses refer to stores with different products but high customer overlap), we see that COCO and Yi Dian Dian have similar locations.

Therefore, location is not the main reason for Yi Dian Dian's popularity.

2.4 Product and Demand

For a milk tea store, the product line can be extensive, but each product serves a different purpose. According to the Boston Matrix, products fall into four categories: question marks, stars, cash cows, and dogs.

Each type has a different function. A good product line should include stars (to expand the line and set benchmarks), cash cows (to ensure profitability), and dogs (to attract traffic), while continuously eliminating question marks.

Once a product's mission is defined, pricing and promotion become easier. Only products that fulfill their specific role are good. So, I will analyze the product lines of Yi Dian Dian and COCO.

2.4.1 Category Analysis

I compared the menus of COCO and Yi Dian Dian:

COCO menu

COCO's product line is divided into six categories: red/green tea, milk tea, chocolate/coffee, selected, special/au lait, and yogurt/snow foam/smoothie. Add-ons cost extra, and adding ice requires customer initiative. From this menu, COCO's traffic-driving products are red and green tea, priced lower and more affordable. The cash cows are chocolate/coffee and selected, priced higher. The stars are special/au lait and yogurt/snow foam/smoothie. Thus, COCO's menu follows a traditional design, covering all categories with balanced proportions.

Yi Dian Dian menu

Yi Dian Dian's menu is slightly different. Overall, the product categories are similar, but the classification is different. It is divided into six categories: Find Fresh, Find Milk Tea, Find Good Tea, Find Taste, Store Manager's Recommendation, and Black Tea Latte. These categories are entirely based on consumer scenarios and needs: fresh, milk tea, good tea, and taste are the key demands in the context of consumption upgrade. This classification directly segments and guides users.

Milk tea consumer decision diagram

2.4.2 Consumer Demand Analysis

(1) Basic Demand Analysis

First, both COCO and Yi Dian Dian address basic needs like fresh, milk tea, good tea, and taste, which is important. But the differences are:

  1. Different category titles: Yi Dian Dian's classification starts from consumer needs, guiding choices by consumption purpose. This suits impulse-driven milk tea consumption, meeting consumer expectations. For example, a shopper wanting a drink can quickly choose based on their feelings. With COCO's menu, consumers must first understand the differences between categories.

  2. Different priority in layout: Yi Dian Dian's order is Find Fresh - Find Milk Tea - Find Good Tea - Find Taste. COCO's order is Red/Green Tea - Milk Tea - Chocolate/Coffee - Selected - Special/Au Lait.

Find Fresh, Find Milk Tea, and Find Good Tea correspond to consumers who know what they want, with the priority of fresh > milk tea > good tea reflecting Yi Dian Dian's judgment on consumers' increasing demand for freshness and health. Find Taste targets undecided consumers. This menu design caters to all types.

COCO's order also shows some consumer segmentation, but COCO's judgment seems to be that consumers care most about red/green tea and milk tea. This reveals the two companies' understanding of the market.

(2) Other Demand Analysis

For other needs, Yi Dian Dian uses Store Manager's Recommendation and Black Tea Latte. Black Tea Latte is a new category rarely seen in other stores, while Store Manager's Recommendation encourages orders through additional recommendations. COCO expands horizontally by adding more categories to retain consumers.

2.4.3 Product Ingredients

The history of milk tea brands revolves around consumption upgrade. From early cheap brands like Jieke and Tea Storm, to around 10 yuan brands like Happy Lemon and Coco, to 10-20 yuan Yi Dian Dian, and today's 20+ yuan Heekcaa, with premium stores at 30-40 yuan, quality has been upgrading step by step.

(1) Price Factor

From a price perspective (data from Curiosity Daily), milk tea stores are becoming branded, and industry concentration will increase. Yi Dian Dian's price range is similar to COCO and Happy Lemon, but with better taste; compared to 20 yuan Heekcaa, it's cheaper. Thus, Yi Dian Dian targets mid-to-high-end emerging middle-class consumers.

(2) Product Ingredients and Design

Yi Dian Dian has introduced many innovations that attract young consumers and spark social sharing. For example, the "star pick" in Yi Dian Dian is a special packaging design. Consumers asking "What is this for?" becomes a reason for social sharing. Also, the cheese tea separates cheese and tea, which piques interest.

Regarding ingredients, it is said that Yi Dian Dian's cheese foam uses Anchor cream, milk is Wei Chuan fresh milk, pudding uses Uni-President Fresh Yogurt, and Yakult, among other well-known brands.

2.5 Personalized Customization

The most significant difference between COCO and Yi Dian Dian lies in add-ons, sweetness, and ice. COCO also allows adjustments, but it's just a line on the menu. Yi Dian Dian's uniqueness is that it has two separate sections for choosing sweetness, ice, and free add-ons. This means everyone can customize their drink to their taste.

2.5.1 Is Personalized Customization Popular?

To gauge the popularity of Yi Dian Dian's hidden menu, I searched WeChat and read several articles from different regions. I selected articles from Ningbo, Shanghai, Jiaxing, and Jiangsu, and found that their readership was over ten thousand each. The cumulative readership roughly represents the attention to Yi Dian Dian's hidden menu in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai, which are major milk tea markets. Thus, consumer interest is high, and personalized customization has successfully attracted consumers.

2.5.2 How to Customize?

Yi Dian Dian offers different tea bases and many toppings for free combination. Because the menu is mainly customizable, everyone has their favorite recipe. A simple menu has been played with in many ways. People share their exclusive combinations online, and many follow, or directly order from the hidden menu. The staff also guide customers by asking questions like "Large or medium?", "Cold or hot?", "Need no ice?", "How sweet?", "Need add-ons?" to help them create unique drinks.

2.5.3 Yi Dian Dian's Marketing?

This personalization has sparked hot topics on social media like "Yi Dian Dian Guide," "Yi Dian Dian Review," and "Yi Dian Dian Hidden Menu," attracting big V accounts like Shacha Sauce (1.5 million followers), Sina Fujian (860,000), and BOC-hu (350,000).

The sharing craze initiated by social influencers continuously inspires consumers to share and DIY different ways to drink, while also igniting potential consumers' enthusiasm and treating the guides as treasures. This user-generated content spreads rapidly and has high stickiness, making it an excellent social marketing strategy for brand dissemination.

This online enthusiasm extends offline, with various DIY and top-rated drinks turning consumers into repeat customers. People in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai, where stores are everywhere, excitedly follow the trend, posting on social media regardless of taste. Those without nearby stores are tempted by repeated posts, remembering "Yi Dian Dian" and rushing to try when a store opens nearby.

On the famous shopping decision platform "What's Worth Buying," an article titled "I Bought All the Online Recommended Combinations of Yi Dian Dian Milk Tea, Tested Which Are Worth Buying" even bought 90 different cups based on online recommendations for testing.

This personalized ordering has even formed a user group similar to the internet celebrity industry. Those who know the hidden menu look down on those who queue with confusion, and those who drink Yi Dian Dian look down on COCO drinkers as outdated. Top consumers can rattle off new terms like milk green, boba, Yakult green, and pearl coconut, and list dozens of combinations, gaining recognition and attention. This special user relationship allows core users to attract others to try and follow.

2.5.4 Analyzing the Value of Personalized Product Line

From a business model perspective, personalized ordering can be modeled as follows: Consider a duopoly with one traditional firm and one personalized customization firm. If both are symmetrically located on a circular space with consumers uniformly distributed, they face the same consumer density. The traditional firm produces standard products (point C), while the personalized firm's products can be represented by an arc (AB), where LR represents the personalized range, and AL and RB represent regular market segments. Thus, if a firm's products are more attractive, it gains a larger market share.

For Yi Dian Dian, the personalized product line has two main benefits:

  1. Marketing: AL and RB represent regular segments, similar to COCO's categories, so the marketing approach is push-based (production-sales), mainly new product launches and promotions. For the personalized segment L~R, it corresponds to pull-based marketing (perception-response), where consumers perceive the brand and generate demand, and the firm responds. This requires consumers to participate in product design, expressing their needs, as seen with Yi Dian Dian's hidden menu stimulating demand expression.

  2. Value: Every customer has an ideal product and price. The difference between the customer's psychological price and the actual price is the value provided by the firm. Yi Dian Dian's customization raises the psychological price without increasing cost, thereby increasing the value provided and building the brand.

2.6 Store Design

Regarding the queues, everyone knows that you have to queue at Yi Dian Dian. But why? To answer, we must analyze the store design.

Traditional Taiwanese milk tea bars are usually "I-shaped," with all equipment in a line to speed up order fulfillment.

Yi Dian Dian does the opposite, deliberately creating obstacles to slow down order speed. The bar is typically L-shaped or U-shaped, with a larger operation area, and tools are dispersed. Each employee has specific duties, so you often see staff walking around busily. The L-shape significantly reduces efficiency: COCO takes about 10-30 seconds per item, while Yi Dian Dian takes 1-3 minutes. As a result, even with similar customer numbers, Yi Dian Dian always has queues, and staff seem busy.

Ultimately, Yi Dian Dian stores create a bustling scene without making customers wait too long, while staff appear very busy.

III. Answering the Two Questions from the Beginning

3.1 Answer: "Why are there always people queuing at Yi Dian Dian stores?"

(1) The store's traffic flow design limits staff efficiency, increasing queue time.

(2) Yi Dian Dian's deliberate marketing strategy:

Yi Dian Dian seems to intentionally maintain queue length. According to a Beijing Business Today investigation, on weekdays, staff call out order numbers frequently, almost every number. But on weekends when fewer people are around, the frequency of calls decreases, suggesting they may intentionally increase waiting time.

Some stores even run queue-related promotions. For example, one store owner put up a small ad (explaining that refunds would be given the next day from 4:30 to 6:00 PM) and used an electronic megaphone to advertise: "Crazy, crazy, milk tea is free! Drink today, get your money back tomorrow!" The next day, during the refund period, people queued to get refunds, creating a lively scene: some queued with activity cards, others bought milk tea, and curious onlookers also bought cups.

(3) Personalized milk tea production

Yi Dian Dian offers customized drinks, so each drink requires a staff member to make it from start to finish, and each customer's requirements differ, slowing down production. In contrast, COCO has a division of labor: one cashier, one for add-ons, one for mixing. This minimizes movement and increases efficiency. Also, during ordering, staff guide customers to choose different flavors, adding to the wait.

(4) Queues have a social proof effect:

In marketing, there is a theory called the social proof effect: when consumers are unfamiliar with the quality of food and service, they judge quality solely by the length of the queue, deciding whether to buy. The queue length becomes an extrinsic cue, helping consumers estimate quality and reduce purchase risk. This effect is more pronounced in one-time impulse purchases like milk tea.

Consumers attracted by the queue are mainly curious about what's good about the store, which is an excellent customer acquisition method for stores like Yi Dian Dian.

3.2 Answer: "Why is Yi Dian Dian so popular?"

(1) Yi Dian Dian has good products:

Yi Dian Dian offers many new products and personalized customization to create different flavors, meeting consumer needs and curiosity. The user-friendly menu design and free add-ons also attract many consumers.

(2) Yi Dian Dian has good marketing:

Although it's unclear how Yi Dian Dian first exploded on social media, its customized products have generated significant attention, continuously attracting regulars and new customers.

(3) The deliberate queues are effective for customer acquisition.

Source: Huxiu.com Original link: https://www.huxiu.com/article/193483.html