This Labor Day holiday, China's consumer market delivered impressive results. Cross-regional population mobility is estimated to have reached 1.52 billion person-trips, with approximately 13,700 cultural and tourism consumption events held nationwide. Trends like "traveling for sports events" and "visiting a city for a performance" became defining features of holiday spending. Within this surge, a seemingly minor consumption detail attracted attention: a growing number of consumers opted for "grab-and-go fresh tea drinks" over bottled beverages. Data from the new tea drink brand CHABAIDAO showed that during the holiday, sales in popular event provinces and municipalities like Jiangsu, Beijing, Hubei, and Sichuan achieved double-digit growth. In "hidden gem" smaller cities such as Jiayuguan, Dezhou, and Aba Prefecture, sales increases even exceeded 200%. These figures reflect a new trend of deep integration between the new tea drink sector and the cultural tourism economy. As holiday economics shifts from "sightseeing and checking in" to "deep experiences," a cup of new tea drink is becoming a unique barometer for measuring consumption vitality.
From "Ticket Stub Economics" to "Scenery in a Cup" This year's Labor Day holiday consumption landscape displayed a notable characteristic: experiential consumption replaced traditional sightseeing as the core engine driving economic growth. The popularity of sports events and performances was particularly evident. The Chinese Super League kicked off in multiple cities; a single match between Shanghai Shenhua and Chengdu Rongcheng attracted 61,815 spectators, setting a new single-event record for cultural and sports activities in Shanghai. Estimates suggest this event drove a total of 135 million yuan in consumption, with out-of-town fans contributing significantly. Qingdao implemented a "ticket stub economics" model, with over 700 merchants joining an alliance; projections indicate direct economic benefits from events could reach approximately 2 billion yuan by 2025. The concert market was equally booming. Thirty-two large-scale concerts with over 50,000 attendees were held, contributing 56% of total ticket sales. Mayday's concert at Beijing's Bird Nest stadium generated over 50 million yuan in single-event ticket sales and boosted nearby hotel bookings by 390% compared to the previous period. Zhou Shen's Shanghai concert attracted 120,000 music fans, with over 90% of the audience traveling from other cities. According to the China Association of Performing Arts, one concert ticket can drive about 4.8 times its value in peripheral consumption. Simultaneously, "hidden gem" smaller cities emerged strongly. "Deep cultural travel" person-trips increased by 52.3% year-on-year, with niche destinations like Jingdezhen, Datong, and Jiayuguan becoming new favorites for tourists. The number of inter-province tourists grew by 7.6% year-on-year, with long-distance travel over 800 kilometers increasing by 20%. More importantly, inbound tourism saw a peak. With the continuous expansion of visa-free policies, searches for "China Travel" grew over threefold year-on-year. Beijing received 80,000 inbound tourists during the first three days of the holiday. Bookings for deep experience-related inbound tourism activities increased by 129% year-on-year. Foreign tourists' travel styles are shifting from "check-in" to "experiential," with Hanfu rentals, mobile payments, and Chinese-style milk tea becoming new popular consumption items. Amid this consumption feast, new tea drinks played a "lubricating" role. CHABAIDAO data showed that on match days, a store near the Nanjing Olympic Sports Center sold nearly 1,000 cups, with its large-format coffee新品 proving popular among fans for being "substantial and affordable." A CHABAIDAO representative revealed that consumption by foreign tourists at its national stores during the holiday increased by 30% compared to pre-holiday levels. "This is no coincidence," said a consumer industry analyst. "New tea drinks possess the dual attributes of 'instant gratification' and 'social sharing,' naturally fitting mobile consumption scenarios like tourism, event attendance, and performances. When consumers are willing to travel hundreds of kilometers for an event or show, a drink with local characteristics or matching the current mood becomes the perfect companion for experiential consumption."
The First-Mover Advantage in Lower-Tier Markets If holiday economic traffic is "timing," then CHABAIDAO's sales explosion amid the small-city cultural tourism boom benefits more from the "geographic advantage" built through years of deep cultivation in lower-tier markets. CHABAIDAO's 2025 performance report indicated that by the end of 2025, its stores covered 354 cities across 31 provinces, with the proportion of stores in third-tier and lower cities rising to 46.14%. The number of stores in fourth-tier and lower cities increased by over 7% year-on-year. CHABAIDAO's下沉 strategy is built on two core capabilities. The first is supply chain efficiency. CHABAIDAO operates 26仓储 centers nationwide, with approximately 93.7% of stores achieving next-day delivery after ordering, and about 94.3% of stores receiving配送 services twice or more per week. Notably, its overall仓储 logistics costs account for only 1.3% of GMV. In lower-tier cities, logistics costs are often the biggest bottleneck hindering chain brand development; CHABAIDAO uses scaled operations to balance cost control and quality stability. The second is deep control over upstream raw materials. In recent years, CHABAIDAO has established a tea blending facility in Fuzhou, Fujian (annual capacity exceeding 2,000 tons), a jasmine tea scenting facility in Hengzhou, Guangxi (annual capacity exceeding 3,000 tons), and an eco-friendly packaging materials facility in Chengdu, Sichuan (annual capacity nearly 26,000 tons). Its即将投产的 HPP juice factory will further consolidate autonomy in raw materials. "Consumption power in下沉 markets is being unleashed, but the prerequisite is that the supply side can keep up," the aforementioned analyst pointed out. "Consumers in lower-tier cities are price-sensitive but also demand quality. CHABAIDAO's supply chain layout ensures product quality remains consistent even in remote cities, laying the foundation for capturing traffic during the small-city tourism boom." Data from this year's Labor Day holiday validates this assessment. CHABAIDAO's sales growth in niche destinations like Jiayuguan, Dezhou, and Aba Prefecture all exceeded 200%. These cities are not traditional consumption hotspots but were precisely the popular destinations for deep travel during the holiday. Notably, inbound tourists are also visiting these smaller cities. On social media, many foreign tourists share their deep travel lists for China, which include not only visiting attractions and品尝美食 but also checking in for Chinese-style milk tea. This signifies that consumption scenarios in下沉 markets are expanding from "local customer bases" to diversified bases of "local + out-of-town + international" customers, posing higher demands on brands' store operation capabilities.
The "Hard Truth" of Product Innovation If channel strategy determines "where you can sell," then product strength determines "why you are chosen." In the intensely competitive new tea drink赛道, product innovation is the brand's lifeline. CHABAIDAO launched 117 new tea drink products throughout 2025 and completed 25 product iterations. New products contributed over 30% to GMV, meaning nearly one-third of sales came from products introduced that year, validating the effectiveness of product iteration. Reviewing product movements over the past six months, CHABAIDAO's innovation path shows three clear trajectories. The first is exploration of "meal replacement" to activate the afternoon tea scene. The "Solid Mango Pomelo Sago" launched in the second half of 2025 became a phenomenal hit, selling over 14 million cups since its launch. In January 2026, CHABAIDAO introduced the "Substantial Tapioca Dessert Bowl," using "South China No. 9" yellow-heart tapioca sourced from Guangxi, developed by the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, and adding an "ice-bath" step to lock in a soft, chewy texture. This product sold nearly 800,000 portions within three days of launch. China Food Industry analyst Zhu Danpeng believes the popularity of tapioca desserts "stems both from the novelty of niche ingredients and reflects new tea drink brands' active exploration of the afternoon tea consumption scene." The launch of meal-replacement products effectively expands stores' ability to handle consumption during non-meal hours, improving per-store efficiency. The second is utilizing "localized" ingredients to align with cultural tourism consumption scenes. Just before this year's Labor Day holiday, CHABAIDAO launched the "Fresh Cheese Brown Sugar Fen Guo Milk Tea," which uses the distinctly Southern Fujian-flavored Fen Guo ingredient. This product proved popular not only domestically but also became a favorite among many foreign tourists—the "Brown Sugar Fen Guo" series sold nearly 1.25 million cups in its first week. Using locally characteristic ingredients to create products, on one hand, meets consumers' desire for local experiences, and on the other, naturally possesses social sharing attributes. When consumers drink a milk tea with local ingredient印记 during travel, their willingness to take photos and share increases significantly. The third is expansion into "coffee" to capture all-day consumption. CHABAIDAO is rolling out fully automatic coffee machines at scale in its stores, introducing freshly ground coffee products. Currently, daily coffee output at some stores has exceeded 100 cups. The company expects coffee operations to potentially cover 2,000 stores by the end of 2026, with cup volume share rising to around 15%. The strategic significance of coffee extends beyond adding SKUs to activating stores' all-day operational capability. Periods like breakfast and afternoon tea were traditionally low points for new tea drink stores; the introduction of coffee fills this gap while increasing average order value through product combinations. According to a CICC research report analysis, CHABAIDAO is expected to focus on the coffee category in 2026, "using fresh milk and fresh fruit offerings to supplement morning revenue and increase store scale effects."
From an operational data perspective, CHABAIDAO's product innovation is translating into tangible financial returns. In the second half of 2025, against the backdrop of industry-wide reductions in delivery subsidies, CHABAIDAO achieved revenue of 2.896 billion yuan, a quarter-on-quarter increase of 15.84%. Net profit was 488 million yuan, up 46.72% quarter-on-quarter. Same-store average daily GMV maintained double-digit growth in the fourth quarter, continuing into the first two months of 2026.
CHABAIDAO's performance this Labor Day holiday, on the surface, capitalized on the timing of holiday economics.但从 a broader perspective, it actually represents the concentrated realization of years of strategic布局. Its early positioning in下沉 markets prevented it from being caught off guard by the "small-city heat." Its deep cultivation of the supply chain enabled it to maintain quality consistency from first-tier cities down to county markets. Its continuous investment in product R&D gave it the capability to meet the consumption demands of different scenarios and customer groups. As consumers' travel ranges不断扩大 and consumption scenes become increasingly diverse, the competitive logic for new tea drink brands is changing—it is no longer simply about price wars or marketing battles, but a comprehensive contest involving supply chain efficiency, product innovation power, and channel coverage.
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