Is it about experience or convenience?

I’ll share my “aha moment” while trying to get a coffee in an unusual place in Asia. Plus, a key question for you to ponder regarding user experience when selling.

Wednesday, 9:44 AM. I'm somewhere on the outskirts of Shenzhen, China.

I look up. In the distance, I see the fifth tallest building in the world. It’s stunning. It’s massive. It really seems to “scratch the sky.”

Ping An Finance Center, reaching almost 600 meters tall in Shenzhen.

For several years now, the top 10 tallest skyscrapers in the world have been dominated by Asia. The West is gradually falling behind.

What surprises me the most about Shenzhen is the rest of the buildings around me; they're all skyscrapers. Yesterday, as I was crossing the bridges from Hong Kong and looking into Shenzhen, I tried to count them. I gave up when I saw there were hundreds. And there were hundreds more under construction. The Shenzhen skyline stretched across the entire horizon:

I refocus on my surroundings. A titanium-colored Tesla Model S, with tinted windows, stops in the middle of the street. The driver gets out without bothering to park and enters a coffee shop, leaving the car in the street as if abandoned. The driver emerges from the coffee shop ten seconds later with his latte and a satisfied look on his face. He gets back into the Tesla and continues on his way. It feels like he does this every day.

It’s the fastest "pit stop" (for coffee) I’ve ever seen.

The place he entered is called Luckin Coffee, and it looks like a coffee chain.

It is a coffee chain that has opened 10,000 stores in 240 Chinese cities in just five years. By comparison, Starbucks has taken 50 years to open 35,000 locations. Despite some financial scandals, they serve coffee to over 500 million Chinese customers. That’s a lot of coffee and a lot of people.

Naturally, I had to check it out. I wanted my latte in less than ten seconds too.

I was dying to see what brings 500 million Chinese into a Luckin Coffee every day. Surely, there’s something to learn and share with my readers.

😱 First cultural shock: There are no signs of any kind inside. No screens, no prices, no product listings. It doesn’t even look like a shop. I wasn’t expecting to understand how “latte” is written in Mandarin, but I felt completely out of place in this coffee shop.

😱 Second cultural shock: There are no overly friendly staff members to help me with my order. No one pays attention to me; no one tries to sell me an extra shot or a freshly defrosted pastry. What I see are several "baristas" continuously making coffee like worker ants. They don’t look up; they don’t smile. They just make coffee and place it on a long table, perfectly organized in columns, with a ticket underneath.

Customers come into the store, locate their order number on the table, grab their coffee, and leave without paying, greeting, or looking up either.

All of this is possible because the transaction has already taken place within the WeChat universe.

Our Tesla driver placed his order a few minutes prior, paid for it on WeChat, and now picks it up with maximum efficiency. He doesn’t waste a second waiting in line. And that’s how 500 million Chinese get their Luckin Coffee.

😱 Third cultural shock: This is the only way to get your drink at Luckin Coffee. You can’t place an order in the store; you can’t pay with credit cards or cash; there’s no one to help you choose a drink. You have to use WeChat:

Is this the future of coffee shops?

That morning, I didn’t get my coffee as I pondered whether this was the future we wanted.

▶︎ Maximum time optimization. Maximum profit. Minimum humanity.

Fun fact: Starbucks is investing a huge amount of money to reduce customer wait times in their shops. Clearly, it’s a factor limiting their growth and profitability.

Technology is a tool. We can use it for good or for evil. The incentives we place around technology will shape how we use it. If big corporations see a path to growth or profit by encouraging users to use their phones (or in-store screens) for placing orders, making payments, and reducing wait times and labor costs, this is what we’ll see everywhere. I think it's inevitable.

The question then is:

Do we strive to humanize our relationship with customers?

Or do we offer them maximum convenience?

What do we really want when we go for our morning coffee at 9:44 AM on a Wednesday?

I’m very interested in your opinion.

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P.S.: That night, while enjoying a hot pot at one of the most famous restaurants in Shenzhen with friends, it was clear that the Chinese still socialize just like we do. It was a festival of food, noise, people, and a great atmosphere. No one reached for their phones. Not even WeChat. There was no intention to optimize anything; everything was perfect as it was.

P.S.2: The next day, walking through the bustling streets of Hong Kong, I realized something: most of the coffee I buy at Starbucks these days is to-go. I drink it while walking, chatting, and looking around. We use that “coffee moment” to move around instead of sitting down.

Maybe what they’re doing at Luckin Coffee with their “10-second lattes” isn’t that bad after all.

What about your online store?

Is it about the experience, or convenience?