Hanxuan Wang mentions in his blog post the reason behind successful Starbucks in China. I certainly agree with his point of value proposition, which is a feature intended to make a company or product attractive to customers. As Hanxuan clearly explains the reason with comparing the past with present,” about 10 years ago, when Starbucks first come into China’s market, its relative high price means they positioning their brand for high-income citizens. Compared with other kinds of daily drinks in China, such as tea and other coffee brands, the biggest point of difference of Starbucks coffee is its high quality and the western lifestyle they stand for. So, as a result Starbucks set a high price for China’s consumer in order to meet their perception of this brand. This may explain the high price of Starbucks in China.”

 However, it is not just the value proposition, but one must also give credit the labor force that have managed to produce products at a consistent taste and rate for the consumers. Hanxuan also fails to mention the logistics, which is one of the big reason behind why the price is so expensive. And lastly, Hanxuan could have also mentioned about the culture since late 1970’s, as mentioned in the article, which is image conscious.

http://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/09/why-is-starbucks-so-expensive-in-china/279394/