Coca-Cola’s purchase of the UK-based coffee chain Costa Coffee could slow down Starbucks momentum in its hottest market, China. The reason for this is obvious: Costa Coffee has 450 stores in China already. Add Coca-Cola’s long presence there and deep pockets, and China could see the pace of new store openings by Costa Coffee speed up. But Costa Coffee is already there. With over 1.3 billion people and rising incomes, China has been a mouth-watering market for Starbucks and other overseas merchants.

Source: Forbes September 03, 2018 00:33 UTC