We may often wonder why the owners of independent coffee shops— known locally as zhuliren 主理人 — can seem cold or distant — especially in Shanghai.
Many consumers might complain about this—in theory, a café should value service, be warm, and be good at chatting with customers to build a warm connection.
I know, and trust me, most café owners initially thought the same way, but reality has made some of them afraid to do so.
To understand this, it helps to know the history behind their mindsets.
Shanghai is China’s most competitive coffee market. And —It once had a thriving community of cafe exploration Vloggers; In the beginning, these influencers provided valuable exposure and even endorsement, and many shop owners were relatively open with them.
But over time, it became clear that media exposure was making independent shops’ business strategies and product designs transparent at an exponential pace. This transparency caused a number of shops with weak moat to lose their competitive edge and close.
As a result, for a long period, owners and staff alike were encouraged to keep interactions with customers to a minimum.
1) They couldn’t tell whether a customer might be a potential competitor,
2) and they didn’t want to expose too much information to the public.
What is happening right now is that shops with proprietary methodologies and soft moats—rather than scale or exclusive resources—tend to stay low-profile in the media and keep their distance from consumers. This is the lowest-cost way for them to protect their moat. They have some hidden advantages and don't want to be disturbed.
Meanwhile, many new players, or shops that strategically aim to use digital media space to gain influence beyond their offline presence, may opt for a strong exposure, seeking a more comprehensive competitiveness that extends beyond offline competition.
(Note that this discussion excludes chain stores, which typically engage in large-scale exposure because a one-time marketing investment creates traffic leverage across all their locations.)
Also, shops that emphasize service (with attitudes suddenly turning much nicer, lol), community-driven, multi-product-categories, and curated-mindset stores are also becoming more numerous. This is an inevitable choice in such a fiercely competitive environment—they need more differentiated variables to stay competitive.
This is a reflection of different business philosophies, and such attitudes are undergoing continuous change as market dynamics evolve.
However, business is business. Ultimately, it has to return to first-principles thinking: where exactly is my irreplicable moat?