Ediya Coffee needs to seek changes in contactless era

Ediya Coffee opens its 3,000th franchise shop in Seo-gu, Daejeon, on Nov. 20, 2019. / Courtesy of Ediya Coffee

By Kim Jae-heun

Ediya Coffee is undoubtedly the largest coffee chain here in terms of total stores it operates. There are about 3,000 Ediya Coffee shops operating as franchises as of last November, which is an unrivaled amount compared to Starbucks Korea and A Twosome Place that have 1,350 and 1,163, respectively.

However, when it comes to brand power and size of the coffee shops, Ediya Coffee slips down to No.3 player in the market.

According to the Korea Reputation Center, Ediya Coffee has ranked third for three months since March in their study measuring coffee chains' brand images in the market.

Customers visit Ediya Coffee shops for its competitive prices of its beverages compared to those of Starbucks or A Twosome Place. However, it raised prices for its products by 10 percent in December 2018.

Also, Ediya has “no interest” in launching premium coffee stores similar to Starbucks Reserved, which has contributed much in attracting loyal customers to Starbucks shops, people familiar with the issue said.

There is only one “special store” operated by the domestic coffee brand at its headquarters in Seoul, where customers can try new drinks. Starbucks Korea operates 62 special stores where its qualified baristas make and serve high-quality drinks on site.

Ediya opened a coffee bean roasting facility recently called “Ediya Dream Factory” in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, but it is not for customers to visit.

“Because coffee is a drink based on personal preference, its price should not be considered when people choose the only factor which brand to go for. Coffee has become a part of people's daily lives and it became important to offer a brand experience now,” an industry insider said.

Inventing new items to keep customers coming back to its franchise is important, officials said. However, Ediya has been reluctant to release any new menu items since the inroduction of its Toffee Nut Latte, even though it has been five years since it was first introduced in the market.

Starbucks, on the other hand, has been working with local regions to use local products in its drinks such as Mungyeong's Omija Tea. The U.S. coffee chain also offers various desserts using local ingredients harvested on Jeju Island at its shops there.

Building trust between a coffee brand and its customers is also important, industry insiders said. Ediya operates 99 percent of its brand stores by franchise so it cannot supervise all the shops under its umbrella.

Some of the stores sell summer edition drinks in the winter season, which causes confusion to customers because other stores don't. This kind of management error cannot be fixed easily because Ediya grew on rapid expansion of franchise shops across the nation.

Recently, Ediya started a coffee delivery service to cope with the rising contactless trend. But this is not part of the brand's distinguished marketing strategy.

“In the quickly changing market of food and beverage, a coffee brand has to catch new trends and adopt them. If it fails to do so, it can lose customers in a blink of an eye, which can lead to a decline in sales,” the insider said.