MASTER IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

(MBA)

ARSHAD AYUB GRADUATE BUSINESS SCHOOL

GROUP PROJECT PAPER: MARKETING PLAN

BUBBLEBEE MALAYSIA
SWEET, AS YOUR SMILE!

Prepared For:
Dr Siti Zaleha
Prepared By:

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 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Bubblebee Malaysia is a Malaysian chain that was launched in the year 2020. Bubblebee
Sdn Bhd, with its corporate headquarters in Puchong, Selangor, owns and operates it. The
business has around 27 self-owned and celebrity-shared locations across Malaysia’s other six
states of January 2021. On September 2019, the four (4) keys people in the company, Shuib
Sepahtu himself, Dato Ismail, and Madam Michelle Koh, had a brainstorming session.
Bubblebee is the innovation of the honey. Honey milk with Boba is still new in the Malaysia
market, about 3 months of R&D, on 8th December 2019, they launched the first outlet in Section
13 Shah Alam, Selangor. After about a year, they expanded to 27 outlets in 6 states in Malaysia,
and every-time they opened a new store, they raised a lot of awareness. In fact, when they
performed a soft launch, about 200-300 people wait in line. For each new outlet’s opening day,
they usually gave around 100-200 free cups.

Sweet as your smile! This is the tagline for this company. Each of their products contains
only pure honey as its major element. Golden Series Ice-Cream is their best-selling. This
crispiness of cornflakes, the sweetness of pure honey, and the chewy golden bubble and
honeycomb can all be felt. However, there are still many Malaysians wonder about this brand. It
is always compared to the Boba drink brand that started to set foot before them. For example,
like Tealive, Chatime, Gongcha and many more. By using key strengths of Bubblebee into
uniqueness of honey milk with Boba drinks opportunity, they will be able to develop another
market segment and diversify their promotional drink options.

In this marketing plan, the focus will be on the techniques that Bubblebee Malaysia will
employ. How the framework is made to ensure that this brand gets attention in the eyes of
Malaysians.

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 CURRENT SITUATION AND TRENDS

Market of Boba Tea

From 2017 to 2023, the global bubble tea is expected to increase at a CAGR 7.40%, from
$ 1,957 million in 2016 to $ 3,214 million in 2023.

Pearl milk tea, bubble milk tea, Boba juice, Boba tea, or simply bubble tea are all names
for bubble tea. It’s created with tea or coffee as the base, with chewy tapioca balls added for
added texture. In Malaysia these days, it appears that one out of every three persons is carrying a
cup as they go around malls or neighborhood stores. In Malaysia. Boba drinks are typically
inexpensive, yet premium boba drinks at locations like KOI can cost as much as premium
coffees in coffee shops. It wasn’t until the middle of 2017 or early 2018 that bubble tea
resurfaced in the thoughts of Malaysians, thanks in part to the Chatime legal saga that resulted in
the form of Tealive, combined with the introduction of numerous huge new bubble tea chains,
such as Koi, Gongcha, followed more recently The Alley and a slew of other foreign chains, has
resulted in a boom in the bubble tea industry.

It has minimal calories and fat content, is high in antioxidants, and has anti-inflammatory
and anti-carcinogenic qualities. Green tea bubble tea is expected to be the most profitable
segment, accounting for a significant portion of the global bubble tea market due to its health
benefits. Furthermore, bubble tea’s simplicity of consumption, low cost of production, easy
accessibility, and fair pricing all contribute to its appeal as a daily drink after lunch, supper, or
just about any time.

Bubblebee in Malaysia

Bubblebee is a Malaysian milk tea chain and foam tea brand operating in Kuala Lumpur.
In addition, it is famous for its honey-based tea drinks. Bubblebee was founded by celebrity
couple Shuib Sepahtu and Siti Sarah Raisuddin who also serve as board members. The main
basis of the drink served at Bubblebee is local honey as well as ice cream mixed with honeybee,
thus evoking a delicious taste because honey provides many nutrients and benefits to health. In
the case of Bubblebee, the company has positioned the brand as a 3rd Place environment in the
minds of its customers, Other than the office and home, the 3 rd place environment is a place
where an individual can rest, meet, or mingle with friend and family. In July 2020, Bubblebee is

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 targeting the opening of 100 new branches. There must be grief behind success when Bubblebee
was related to the Macau Scam issue. Bubblebee has a poor image among netizens due to money
laundering connections. Furthermore, some Twitters users have expressed their disgust by
recommending others to avoid the honey-based Boba tea franchise. Although the issue has been
resolved, Shuib still clearing his name and Bubblebee to ensure that the name of the business
does not disappear in the eyes of Malaysians. With mission, to inspire and nurture the human
spirit- one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time, a total of 27 new branches were
opened in 2021.

Pandemic Covid-19 Affects both Supply & Consumption

Due to the covid-19 epidermic, government agencies have been compelled to impose
stringent closures of restaurants, farms, and enterprises in order to ensure safety and conduct
social distancing measures. Due to a shortage of staff and reduced visits to coffee shops during
the lockdown, transportation delays and the functioning of both supplies (tea states) and demand
for consumption points have come to a halt.

Tea prices have risen by 25 percent to 40 percent on average, according to the Indian Tea
Association, due to a lockdown in tea-growing districts, as well as erratic cargo transportation
and a reduction in crop quantity. According to Harrisons Malayalam (HML), the entire tea
manufacturing cycle, which includes raw material procurement, chemicals, fertilizers, and
factory fuel, has been impacted and would take time to recover in 2020. Based on Tea Board
India stated, tea exports have also decreased by 6 percent to 8 percent as a result of the slowed
logistics movement, which has hampered the industry’s growth.

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 It’s causing a stir among the food and beverage industry’s big trends. The tapioca pearls/balls
that are added to the tea are the main ingredient. These chewy tapioca balls add flavors to the
dish. Consumer’s increased interest in innovative beverages with bold flavors, as well as their
openness to try new flavors, has had a favorable impact on the market. It has a number of
qualities, including being low-fat and low calories. When the recipe is associated with this
Bubblebee, they use honey milk in their recipes. Honey and milk are a classic combination that
may be found in a variety of drinks and pastries. Milk and honey may offer a rich flavor to your
favorite recipes in addition to being wonderfully peaceful and comfortable. Despite being hit by
various controversies, Bubblebee still gets praise from the hearts of Boba fans.

Example of clippings from hot news are discussed.

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 PERFORMANCE REVIEW

The global bubble tea market was worth USD 2.02 billion in 2019 and is expected to
reach USD 3.39 billion by the end of 2027, growing at a CAGR of 7.2 percent. Coffee and tea
have long been popular beverages around the world. In recent years, modified tea products
known as bubble tea have achieved enormous appeal around the world, particularly in Southeast
Asia.

For Bubblebee, the monthly income forecasts were derived by estimating typical daily
traffic (approximately 200) and the average spending per customer (RM 9.50). The Bubblebee
numbers were understated to ensure that it could withstand the worst-case situation. In addition,
typical boba tea businesses in Malaysia spend 20 percent of sales on product development, but,
because Bubblebee will use organic, fresh ingredients (inclusive honey-based products), the cost
of goods sold will be estimated to be 25% of sales. Finally, Bubblebee deducts 5 percent of
revenues as a sales allowance to cover the cost of discounts and fundraising. Bubblebee aims to
attract new customers and expand its client base by offering discounts and fundraising
opportunities. Bubblebee anticipates greater costs as a result of successful marketing, interested
clients, and location, and that these safeguards will result in higher revenues.

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 KEY ISSUE

First, Bubblebee’s strengths which are strategic and new developed location, fresh
products, convenient and easily to get because of they have opened many new branches and they
have their own factory to supply. Based on our findings, there are the top four strengths of
Bubblebee. Bubblebee are known for their premium products and services and we believed with
these strengths will be gained the trust and loyalty by Malaysians.

After we review and get info from loyal buyers said, their menu is unique and makes it
hard to imitate and tastes quite different. Apart from that, the introduction of promotional drinks
also demonstrated that they are always adapting and will work on innovating to provide unique
customized beverages. In addition, they also added new branches in areas outside Selangor and
Kuala Lumpur. For example, the newest branch in North Malaysia is Kuala Kangsar, Perak. They
introduced specifically to open the eyes that they also able to compete with other brands. The
branch selection factor is also quite strategic because they focus on the suburbs in reaching 100
branches according to their target.

Next is weakness, Bubblebee unable to promote their signature flavors, not able to get
customer trust, lack of distributing and also overprice. Since we are focusing on boba drinks,
Bubblebee products are more expensive than those offered by Tealive, Chatime, KOI and Gong

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 Cha. Furthermore, Bubblebee still failing to win consumer trust. Their products are lacking in
terms of marketing in the mass media and print media as well. Bubblebee need distribution
networks because they allow for the smooth delivery of goods and services to customers.

The Opportunity that Bubblebee have many advantages. They introduced honeycombs as
a main product, register to food delivery services such as Grab Food, Food Panda, Bungkus It
and many more. In addition, one of their promoting channels is they are coming from artist and
they user artist based to do free marketing. They also maintained the Malaysian government’s
recommendation to strengthen the use of local products. Beside that, they also diversify the
honey products. Generally, people know honey is only for medicine, but they open people’s eyes
in diversifying the uses of honey in their drinks.

The threat for Bubblebee are they must clarify the issue occur to the customer, all well
known to the founder linked to the Macam Scam issue. They had to clear the name of the
founder as many of his followers began to withdraw from supporting him due to being impressed
by the issue. They also have challenges in attracting buyers from strong brands like Tealive and
Chatime. This is because they have a variety of flavors and also various facilities such as
customer loyalty cards that allow them to get promotions such as buy one drink get one free and
so on.

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