Mixue on the march
Mixue has been dominating the ice cream and tea business in Southeast Asia for five years, having opened its first store in Vietnam in 2018.To get more news about
mixue, you can visit shine news official website.
Based in China, where it operates 22,500 stores, there are now around 1,000 Mixue outlets in several Southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia.By comparison, despite having been around much longer, there are 10,000 Starbucks outlets and around 9,100 McDonald's restaurants across the Southeast Asian region.
In Indonesia, mixue has become a trend on social media platforms. People post about their daily cravings for Mixue products, make jokes and memes - it is common to find the brand among Twitter's trending topics - and the local joke is that you should keep an eye on any vacant space in your neighbourhood because it will soon be converted into a new Mixue outlet.
There are three factors behind Mixue's success story in Indonesia: supply chain efficiency, affordable product prices and the ease of starting a franchise.
In addition, as researchers focusing on China-Indonesia relations, we argue that Mixue - along with other China-based international retailers such as Miniso - is more than just a business success story.
MORE THAN A BUSINESS
In international relations, food can act as a national ambassador and even influence diplomacy. A country can use food as a source of soft power to display cultural characteristics and symbols.
The study, which surveyed nearly 500 people in the US, supports a claim by Olle Wästberg, former director of the Swedish Institute, that furniture brand IKEA does more for Sweden's image than the government. The study also found that the popular energy drink Red Bull improves the image of Austria.
The first Indonesian Mixue store opened in Bandung in 2020. Its rapid growth prompted many major news platforms to write about Mixue's origins, its owner and even the meaning of its name ('snow that's sweet like honey') as people became more curious.
Many people expressed their joy when the Indonesian Ulema Council issued a halal certificate for Mixue.
Mixue's presence has also helped the country tackle unemployment by hiring local workers. Given the brand's popularity in Indonesia, Mixue's growing presence may already be helping China's efforts to boost its positive image in the country.
Meanwhile, as many as 25.4 per cent of Indonesian respondents saw China's rise as having a negative impact on Indonesia, but the Chinese government continues to encourage its companies to develop overseas not only for economic gain but also to promote a positive image.
This is particularly true in the technology sector.
Thanks to government support, China's technological progress has been rapid. The country produces smartphone products such as Xiaomi and Oppo, which have a fairly large market share in Indonesia.
There are also growing retail companies with strong links to China, such as Miniso and Usupso, which were recently accompanied by the expansion of KKV. Chinese products are competitive on the global market due to low production costs.
