Mega Coffee Overtakes Starbucks?... The Summer Showdown Scorecard for Coffee Chains

'Early Summer' Period with Highs Above 30 Degrees Celsius
Estimated Card Payments at Eight Major Coffee Chains
Twosome Place, Mega MGC Coffee, and Compose Coffee See Increases... Starbucks Down 30%
Twosome Place Overtakes Starbucks as No. 1

As the peak summer season approaches, competition among coffee chains has become even fiercer. In the so-called "early summer first round," which took place during an early heatwave, Twosome Place, Mega MGC Coffee, and Compose Coffee gained the upper hand and were seen smiling at their success. While Starbucks' sales declined amid the "Tank Day" controversy, fortunes varied among coffee chains.

On July 2, Mobile Index, the data analytics solution from IGAWorks, compiled estimated early summer credit and debit card transaction amounts for eight major coffee chains in Korea. The results showed that Twosome Place, Mega MGC Coffee, and Compose Coffee recorded increases compared to the same period last year. The early summer period was defined as approximately one month, from May 14—when the daily high temperature first exceeded 30°C this year—through June 28. The chains included in the analysis were Starbucks, Twosome Place, Mega MGC Coffee, Compose Coffee, Ediya Coffee, Paik’s Coffee, Mammoth Coffee, and Hollys.

Coffee chains regard summer as the peak season for selling large quantities of iced beverages and ramp up their promotional and marketing activities. This year, the heat started earlier, with days exceeding 30°C arriving about a week sooner than last year. Meanwhile, the rainy season—a factor known to reduce iced beverage sales—was delayed by more than two weeks. Last year, the rainy season in central regions began on June 19, but this year it started on July 1.

During the tally period, the total estimated card transaction amount for all chains increased slightly, by less than 1% compared to the same period last year. Among the coffee brands, Mega MGC Coffee recorded the highest increase in estimated transaction amount at 28.6%. Anticipating an earlier onset of the heat, Mega MGC Coffee began selling new summer menu items like watermelon juice and cup bingsu from late April. The cup bingsu sold over 1 million units within two weeks of launch, and the watermelon beverage surpassed a cumulative 2.8 million units sold within 50 days of release, enjoying strong popularity.

Twosome Place (27.6%) and Compose Coffee (16.8%) also posted high growth rates. In preparation for the summer high season, Twosome Place launched its signature dessert lineup, "Tteomeokneun Abak," and reported that sales doubled between June 1 and June 21, with 80% of purchasing customers also buying coffee beverages. A Twosome Place representative explained, "With the heat starting early and little rainfall, combined with our summer campaign, business has been good."

Notably, during this period, Twosome Place surpassed Starbucks as the coffee chain with the highest number of customer transactions—a reversal from last year. Starbucks also saw the steepest decline in estimated transaction amounts, dropping by 32.4%. During the same period last year, Twosome Place’s estimated transaction amount was about 60% that of Starbucks, but this early summer, their positions shifted.

This is believed to be due to the fact that Starbucks was effectively unable to expand early summer sales following the "Tank Day" event controversy on May 18, just as the heat started. Starbucks has traditionally run its summer e-frequency goods giveaway event during this period as a marketing strategy. This year, it did not hold the event due to the controversy, which appears to have had an impact. Starbucks had originally planned to launch its summer menu at the end of May, but postponed it by about a month, only beginning to sell new summer drinks, foods, and goods on June 23.

However, as Starbucks has a high membership sign-up rate, point payments and other forms of member payments were not included in the tally, so the actual decline in transactions may be somewhat less than reported.

Elsewhere, Ediya Coffee (-6.8%), Paik’s Coffee (-6.3%), and Hollys (-6.0%) all saw estimated transaction amounts decrease during the tally period. While Paik’s Coffee and Ediya Coffee launched watermelon juices in April or May—earlier than last year—this did not lead to increased sales compared to last year. Mammoth Coffee saw a decline of less than 1%, effectively achieving the same results as last year.

An industry source commented, "For coffee chains, once the summer heat arrives, the timing and duration of the rainy season are closely watched as they significantly impact sales. There is a clear trend of the summer high season arriving earlier each year."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.