China’s afternoon tea market shows promising prospects

Prospects for China’s afternoon tea market look promising, with young women aged between 18 and 24 continuing to be the main consumer group, according to a recent report released by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group’s local life service company.

With demand for afternoon tea exceeding supply, the market continues to grow, the report said. Citing data from Eleme, Alibaba’s flagship takeaway-order app, the report showed that the number of afternoon tea business owners in March 2021 increased by 33 percent year on year, while the market saw the highest net profit growth of 57 percent.

Geographically, afternoon tea orders in new first-tier cities and second-tier cities accounted for 52.5 percent of the total nationwide, while the orders grew at an average rate of 35 percent in cities below due to soaring demand.

Customers are also paying more for afternoon tea. The average transaction value increased from 28.9 yuan (about $4.52) between July and September 2019 to 30.8 yuan in the same period in 2020.

The top seven choices for afternoon tea are bubble tea, juice, fried chicken, coffee, desserts, braised food, cakes and pastry, and fruits. Out of all of these options, bubble tea was the favorite of most consumers.

In terms of customers’ most popular combinations, bubble tea and juice pair well with desserts, while cakes and pastry are suited to coffee, and braised food lovers prefer to try it with fruits.