“First Cup of Milk Tea” Concludes, Meituan Refrains from Injecting More Bubble: Don't Want to Pump Up Milk Tea

The "double 11" milk tea promotion node, dubbed the "first cup of autumn" by enthusiasts, has come to a close.

According to data released by Bao Wang Tea on August 8th, the sales volume of Bao Wang Tea's "Autumn First Cup" (also referring to the Mid-Autumn Festival promotion) in 2025 increased by 200% compared to last year, with a same-period growth rate of 28%

Data provided by Koudi Café on August 7th shows that on the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Koudi Café's overall sales volume was 2.5 times that of the same period last year. Since launching its "Milk Tea Season" marketing campaign on August 4th, Koudi Café's best-selling product, "Flowing Cloud Jasmine Light Milk Tea", has seen a significant increase in single-quantity orders (orders) compared to last year, with a growth rate of 628%

It's worth noting that at 11 pm on August 7th, Meituan Waimai officially announced on its Weibo account that the "First Cup of Autumn" milk tea promotion would come to an end as scheduled, marking the sixth year Meituan has participated in the Mid-Autumn Festival milk tea promotion. However, Meituan did not release any order data this time.

Meituan Waimai stated that it will not release "continuous three-day single-digit million" type of reports. As long as the DAU (daily active users) exceeds 15 million and the app has a nearly 100% subsidy rate, issuing hundreds of billions of yuan in subsidies for single-digit purchases is no problem. However, Meituan does not want to inject more bubbles into milk tea.

Meituan also introduced that it invited over 3 million riders and over 20,000 milk tea store employees to participate in the "Autumn First Cup" promotion, and collaborated with over 100 tea drink brands and 25,000 stores to launch new products.

Meituan's core local business CEO Wang Pu once said that the total single-quantity volume of the immediate retail market has increased to 25 million, but most of them are just bubbles. "Ordering is easy." Looking back now, it seems that after a collective commitment to "standardize promotion" on August 1st, the competition strategy of the top e-commerce platforms has undergone significant changes.

The reporter also noticed that Meituan and Taobao had promoted their own milk tea products with discounts and coupons in the days leading up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, while JD.com took a different approach by releasing "Autumn First Bite" of fried chicken. The competition between top e-commerce platforms is still simmering, but it has shifted from relentless pursuit of low prices and subsidies to quality and service-oriented competition.

Renowned economist and Information Communication Economics expert committee member Pan and Lin were interviewed by Daily Economic News on August 7th, saying that since the major platforms collectively made a statement on August 1st committing to "standardize promotion", their competitive focus will shift from price competition to quality and service-oriented competition. Each big platform should focus on providing good after-sales services and optimizing service details.

In terms of changes that may occur in the wake of e-commerce platforms' commitment to "standardizing promotions", he analyzed: on one hand, the promotion will become more realistic and rational, but price promotions will still be possible; on the other hand, quality and brand storytelling promotional methods will make a comeback, with big milk tea brands as well as other food chains increasing their marketing investments, especially in social media.