The homogenization of the new tea beverage industry has intensified, so various new tea beverage shops urgently need to jump out of the homogenization circle and achieve a breakthrough. The paper takes Mixue Bingcheng as a case study to explore the path of low-cost differentiation from the perspective of producers and consumers through the resource-based view and the theory of cultural capital. In findings, Mixue Bingcheng achieves low-cost differentiation through supply chain integration (the raw material self-sufficiency rate is high and the procurement cost is low), IP innovation (IP of Snow king) and sinking channel layout (the monopoly effect of third- and fourth-tier cities). The successful case of Mixue Bingcheng provides a reference path for other new tea beverage industry. However, the limitations of quality control under the franchise model are pointed out (e.g., 34 stores in Beijing had food safety problems in 2023). In the future, AI application in formula optimization and personalized IP promotion.
Yufeng Huang (Tue,) studied this question.