ChaPanda Breaks Into South Korea with 188-Minute Waiting Lines—The Success Behind Their SNS Strategy

The story of a Chinese tea brand’s entry into the South Korean market has become a new case study in successful digital marketing. On April 30, 2025, ChaPanda (霸王茶姬) simultaneously opened three locations in Seoul—Gangnam, Yongsan, and Sinchon. At the Sinchon store, the waiting time reached an astounding 188 minutes by 2 PM. A young man in his 20s, who gave up after standing in line for four hours, wrote on social media, “I had it in Shanghai before. When I heard it was coming to Korea, I made a special trip.” His post highlights the brand’s already significant recognition in South Korea before its official launch. For ChaPanda, which has faced headwinds in its domestic market, this dramatic debut in South Korea is a clear testament to the success of its pre-launch marketing strategy leveraging social media platforms.

ChaPanda Faces Domestic Challenges The year

2025 has proven to be a challenging one for ChaPanda. In January, the “handmade milk tea” controversy made headlines, and the annual report released at the end of March revealed that net sales for 2025 had only increased by 4% compared to the previous year. This marked a significant slowdown from the 843% growth in 2023 and 167% in 2024. Meanwhile, the parent company’s net profit plummeted by 52.4% year-on-year. By late April, the brand was once again embroiled in controversy when mercury was reportedly detected in its milk tea. Intensifying competition in the domestic market has also cornered ChaPanda. A few years ago, when other domestic milk tea brands were focusing on fruit teas, ChaPanda carved out a niche with its light milk tea products and “big single product” strategy. For example, their signature product “Bo Ya Jue Xian” accounted for 40% of sales. However, in 2024, Luckin Coffee launched its own light milk tea offerings like “Qing Qing Jasmine” at a promotional price of 9.9 yuan, selling 11 million cups in just seven days and eroding ChaPanda’s stronghold. Now, other tea brands like Gu Ming, Tea Baidao, and CoCo are also offering light milk tea products, most priced under 10 yuan. By contrast, ChaPanda’s products generally cost over 15 yuan, and its product innovation has slowed. Moreover, in last summer’s fierce delivery wars, ChaPanda chose not to participate, ceding market share to competitors. During an earnings call, founder Zhang Junjie uncharacteristically admitted, “We underestimated the impact of price wars on delivery platforms on offline sales.”

Strategic Reasons for Choosing the Korean

Market Amid these domestic challenges, ChaPanda’s decision to target the South Korean market is the result of multiple strategic factors. According to Kim Jwahyun, the head of ChaPanda’s South Korean subsidiary, “South Korea is a strategic market with a mature coffee culture, high quality standards, and an openness to new brands. Additionally, South Korea has become a cultural powerhouse in Asia, making it a key market for advancing ChaPanda’s global strategy.” For Chinese tea brands, South Korea is emerging as a “new frontier,” replacing the Southeast Asian market. In recent years, Southeast Asia was the top choice for overseas expansion by Chinese tea brands. However, as competition in those markets has intensified, Japan and South Korea have become the next target destinations. ChaPanda currently operates 7,453 stores worldwide, including 345 overseas locations. Before entering South Korea, the brand had already established over 200 stores in Malaysia and opened its first North American location in Los Angeles on April 26. Other overseas markets include Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, the United States, Vietnam, and the Philippines. South Korea is the brand’s eighth overseas market.

Building Brand Awareness Through Social Media

The most significant factor behind ChaPanda’s successful entry into South Korea was its ability to build brand awareness through social media platforms even before opening its physical stores. One year prior to its debut, ChaPanda launched its Korean Instagram account. Notably, the content initially shared did not focus on selling products. Instead, it showcased the scenic tea fields of Yunnan, Chinese aesthetics, and the brand’s story. This phased approach prioritized introducing the brand’s ethos and cultural background before promoting its products. South Korea, with its highly developed entertainment industry and widespread social media usage, offers brands a vital channel to engage with younger audiences via K-pop idols. ChaPanda capitalized on this characteristic, carefully establishing connections with popular idols. Earlier this year, Jang Wonyoung, a member of the K-pop girl group IVE, ordered four cups of ChaPanda during a live broadcast. Her moment of astonishment after tasting the “Qing Qing Nuo Shan” drink—accompanied by her spontaneous exclamation in Chinese, “What is this?”—quickly went viral. The clip was shared over 10 million times on TikTok, turning “Wonyoung’s choice” into a buzzword among fans. In another instance, Park Bo-gum, a South Korean actor well-known in China for his role in “Reply 1988,” was spotted buying ChaPanda three days in a row in Shanghai this April. This happened just before the brand’s South Korean launch, and ChaPanda quickly leveraged the moment by promoting his association with the brand. These actions are unlikely to be mere coincidences. By fully utilizing K-pop idols’ influence in South Korea, ChaPanda strategically increased consumer interest and purchasing desire before its store openings.

Raising the Profile of Chinese Brands in

South Korea ChaPanda’s success is not just the result of its individual strategy but also a reflection of a broader trend of Chinese brands gaining recognition in South Korea. In the food and beverage sector, Haidilao opened its first South Korean restaurant in Seoul in 2013 and now operates 11 stores across the country. It has become the most popular Chinese restaurant chain in South Korea, even receiving higher ratings than the country’s only three-star Michelin restaurant in Busan. For years, Chinese cuisine in South Korea had been associated with stereotypes of being “low-quality” or “unhealthy.” Haidilao changed this perception with standardized supply chains, clean and modern interior designs, and impeccable service, earning the favor of the MZ generation (Koreans born between 1980 and 2010). Haidilao has since become a popular choice for corporate gatherings, romantic dates, and hosting older relatives, deeply ingraining itself into Korean social and cultural life. The recent surge in South Korean tourism to China has also provided a fertile ground for Chinese brands to grow consumer loyalty. In November 2024, China implemented a visa exemption policy for South Korean passport holders, and by 2025, Shanghai’s weekend streets were filled with South Korean tourists on “lightning trips.” As Chinese cuisine is relatively expensive in South Korea, ChaPanda already had a strong brand image among South Koreans even before its official entry.

Awakening Strategy in a Coffee-Obsessed

Nation South Korea is known as a “coffee nation,” where people drink coffee as if it were water. With an average sleep time of less than 6.5 hours, caffeine intake has become a necessity for survival. Pop idols, who lead rigorous training and work schedules, often rely on high-caffeine drinks. It’s natural to wonder, “How can a milk tea brand like ChaPanda carve out a niche in a coffee-dominated market like South Korea?” ChaPanda has proven that it can compete with iced Americanos in its “awakening” function, owing to its high caffeine content. Some netizens even joked last year that the product is perfect for South Koreans, who are known for treating iced Americanos as a daily staple. By offering a unique combination of Eastern aesthetics and fresh leaf milk tea, ChaPanda has differentiated itself from South Korea’s coffee culture. Its arrival has arguably made Seoul’s nights even shorter.

Learning from Failed Localization Efforts

South Korea isn’t an easy market for Chinese tea brands to conquer. ChaPanda’s success is built upon lessons learned from the failures of others. In August 2023, Cotti Coffee launched its first overseas store in Seoul, promoting its cost-effectiveness. However, its products were too similar to the numerous chain coffee shops already present in South Korea, failing to foster a sense of brand loyalty among consumers. By the following year, the brand had quietly exited the market. In March 2024, Heytea entered the South Korean market and gained traction among local youth as a trendy “new wave tea” brand. However, due to the high cost of fresh fruit in South Korea, the brand was forced to use frozen fruits in its products—the very element that had been its unique selling point. This reliance on costly ingredients ultimately hindered its expansion. These cases illustrate that globalization is not a simple matter of copying and pasting a domestic business model. True globalization requires an in-depth understanding of local markets and tailored strategies.

A Digital-First Approach to Globalization

ChaPanda’s foray into South Korea offers a new blueprint for globalization strategies in the digital age. Traditionally, overseas expansions followed a model of opening physical stores first and then gradually building brand awareness. ChaPanda flipped this script by using social media platforms to establish its brand ethos and cultural narrative well before opening its stores. Platforms like TikTok and Instagram have become new bridges connecting brands with consumers. What stands out most is ChaPanda’s strategic use of K-pop idols as influencers. The fact that a single live-streamed moment of Jang Wonyoung drinking milk tea garnered over 10 million shares on TikTok demonstrates the unparalleled impact of social media platforms compared to traditional advertising methods. Moreover, the anecdote of South Korean students importing ChaPanda milk tea across borders highlights how the “hype” created online can manifest in real-world consumer behavior.

The Challenge of Global Localization

ChaPanda’s success in South Korea underscores that true globalization is essentially “global localization.” Understanding diverse cultures and local consumer preferences is indispensable for companies aiming to expand internationally. It remains to be seen how ChaPanda will navigate challenges once the novelty of its brand wears off in South Korea. Back home, intensifying competition and a franchise ratio exceeding 90% have raised concerns about quality control and brand consistency. Nevertheless, ChaPanda’s South Korean debut is a shining example of how to leverage digital platforms, collaborate strategically with K-pop idols, and ride the wave of rising recognition for Chinese brands abroad. This “rebirth” in South Korea is more than just a success story for a beverage brand—it’s a case study in how digital platforms are reshaping brand-consumer relationships and redefining the nature of globalization.