Starbucks Korea rides summer refresher wave with sub-5,000-won drinks

Starbucks Korea said Thursday that its new line of refresher beverages priced in the 4,000-won range, along with summer coupons, has been drawing strong customer response.

The Pink Peach Refresher, launched June 23, and the Pink Peach Coconut Refresher, introduced Monday, have proven popular for their affordable prices and crisp, refreshing taste. Refreshers are a beverage category that combines fruit flavors with natural caffeine.

The Pink Peach Refresher is priced at 4,900 won for a tall size, the lowest of any fruit drink in the Starbucks lineup. It blends peach, mango and strawberry flavors with lemonade and has sold more than 300,000 cups within a month of its launch. The Pink Peach Coconut Refresher builds on the original by adding a coconut base and is priced at 5,100 won.

Some 54 percent of refresher sales were concentrated in the afternoon hours (2 p.m. to 8 p.m.), a sharp contrast to iced Caffe Americano, which sees 40 percent of its sales in the morning (7 a.m. to noon). An analysis of Starbucks Rewards member purchase data over the month following the Pink Peach Refresher's launch showed that 40 percent of buyers were in their 20s and 31 percent were in their 30s.

Starbucks is offering two types of summer coupons to Rewards members. New members who sign up by Friday will receive the coupons the following day, and the coupons are valid through Aug. 14. Starting Aug. 8, the chain is also offering a drink-exchange coupon redeemable for one tall-size iced Caffe Americano, iced Caffe Latte or iced Vanilla Latte, as well as a 30 percent discount coupon applicable to food items including sandwiches, cakes and other bakery products.

"The newly introduced refresher beverages and summer coupon benefits are drawing positive responses from customers and are emerging as a defining consumption trend of this summer," a Starbucks Korea official said.