Bubble tea fad bubbling away fast
It seems like every other day there’s a new bubble tea shop opening in SS15. In fact, SS15 is now dubbed ‘Bubble Tea Street’ because of this.
Picture credit: 88razzi
And of course, Malaysians can never resist a chance to wait in line for something super popular and Instagrammable!
Though of course, there are those who are not as pleased…
Sadly, the many bubble tea stores also equates to many empty bubble tea cups… Netizens have seen the single-use plastic cups fill up everywhere.
Many netizens are urging those who consume bubble tea to at least bring their own cups, and in the future maybe one of those specialized reusable bubble tea cups that helps you enjoy the sugary drink without single-use plastic.
But the fact of the matter is that with the increasing number of bubble tea shops in the Klang Valley, and with the waning interest, we are looking at a oversupply of bubble tea.
There will be a gradual decline in competitive advantage of the initial innovators, according to Free Malaysia Today.
In turn, this would benefit customers as the bubble tea shops may drop their prices to attract customers as sales decline.
We may not see the price drop just yet because the product is now still “fashionable”.
However, demand will naturally cool off with time and the market will adjust to keep only the strongest or most reputed stores.
We have seen this before in the form of gourmet burgers in the area just a few years ago and again with artisan coffee shops that blossomed in SS15 about 5 years ago. In fact, we surfed through a salted egg yolk craze just a while back as well.
Those who have already filled up on bubble tea can now turn their attention to a new fad: popular hot pot chains like Hai Di Lao are drawing continuous lines, and many other similar places have opened up.
What’s going to be the next fad? Would you be the first to join the queues or would you rather wait for the hype to die?
