According to a 2017 report by market intelligence consultancy Mintel, China’s coffee shop market is set to grow at a compound annual rate of 5.7 per cent in the next five years, reaching 79.4 billion yuan (US$11.6 billion) by 2022, up from 60.2 billion yuan last year, with booming markets in first- and second-tier cities the main drivers for coffee shop chains.
Starbucks has been in China since 1999 and now has 3,400 stores in the country. Chief executive Kevin Johnson has repeatedly said that China would become the firm’s biggest market within a decade.
