Is the blooming of coffeehouses in South Korea at risk?

Abstract

AbstractThe number of coffeehouses in South Korea jumped nearly ten-fold to 15000 in year 2014. However, more than 50% of the coffee outlets are multi-national franchise companies. This situation is probably putting all local coffeehouse operators into a fierce competition. As proposed by Kang et al. (2013), it is essential for local coffeehouses operators to evaluate their competitive strategies against foreign players. Hence, this study was carried out to evaluate the competitive strategies that implemented by the independents and local chain in South Korea. Mixed method approach was used to ensure both cafe strategies and consumers’ response were able to be measured effectively. Observation and criteria audit technique were used in measuring cafe strategies while survey technique was used in collecting consumers’ attitude pertaining to existing marketing efforts by cafe around Seoul. Comparative analysis was used to analyse the results between foreign franchised cafe and local cafe. Findings suggested ...