Threat of New Entrants
In terms of capital needed to start a new bubble tea house in Birmingham, UK, it is not so expensive, and more bubble tea outlets that keep springing up in the UK, with outlets at festivals, events, and on high streets, as franchises especially are evidence to the average costs of starting one (Point Franchise n.d.).
Medium
Threat of Substitution
There are direct substitutes for bubble tea at most shops because consumers may prefer other coffee or tea-based drinks.
Shops have to pay attention to the substitute products with the potential to have attention particularly those influenced by market demand.
Shops have to differentiate their bubble tea products and the shop itself to create preference for them and to reduce the extent of the threat, considering that it cannot go away
Medium
Medium
Medium to High
Power of Buyers
Customers are price sensitive eve in Birmingham so competitors’ have to satisfy their price and quality concerns at once.
Switching costs from bubble tea shops and products to those which are more attractive to customers at lower prices and which still have high quality makes their power high.
Emphasis on quality of bubble teas and having shops that are quite attractive and welcoming in addition to proper customer service are differentiating factors for bubble tea shops and impact the influence they can have over the market and the competition there.
High
High
High
Suppliers’ Power
Bubble tea shops have to partner with suppliers whose bubble teas are of high quality just as they are affordable.
It is easy and not so costly to switch between suppliers, considering, for example, that there are several of them in places like the UK. Good examples of potential bubble tea suppliers in the UK include Bubblelicious Tea, Bubble Tea House Company, Boba Box, and BoboQ among others (Ri Web 2020).
Medium to High
Low to Medium
Competitive Rivalry
The bubble tea industry in Birmingham is highly competitive because a number of established shops already exist.
However, the bad distribution of bubble tea shops in the city, considering that most of them are located around the city center, or in China Town, there are opportunities for competitors, even for new ones, in the spaces around places like Birmingham City University and Aston University, where there could be many potential Asian and non-Asian customers, as both are target clients.
Even with the specialist shops such as Chatime in Middle Bullring which serves authentic Taiwanese bubble tea, Mee-Cha in Middle Bullring which serves bubble tea in addition to frozen yoghurt, Twist, Bubbleology Birmingham, Feng Cha, and T4 Birmingham among others, it is possible to become a huge competitor there (Chamberlain 2019). Even franchising opportunities for a new shop because current competitors are not so strongly holding the market.
Hi